The Summer of Stand By Me
by areyouforcereal
Summary: What happens when 15 year old Lily Davis, while visiting her grandma for the summer, enters Chris' world? *The story is much better than the description*
1. In The beginning

The Summer of Stand By 

**_Note: This is my first Fanfic so be nice okay? Thanks and enjoy!_**

"Mom, are we there yet?" asked 15 year old Lily Davis as she twirled a piece of her long

brown hair through her index finger while fanning herself with her other hand. "No,

honey not yet. Can't you wait just 10 more minutes?" replied her mother while wiping

the sweat off of her beet red face, and patting her short and frizzy blond and grey hair

down on her head. Lily sighed, "This is so bogus, I mean why do I have to stay at

grandma's the entire summer while you, dad and Corey are off together in Europe?" she

asked. "Honey, we've been over this, you know that we don't have enough money for an

extra plane ticket you'll just have to go to Europe next year, and besides grandma loves it

when you visit her!" said her mother joyfully. "Mom, I haven't seen the woman in over

10 years! What makes you think she'll remember me?" exclaimed Lily. "O pish posh,

what grandmother forgets her own grandchildren? Besides, ever since your grandfather

died your grandmother's been lonely and she really needs the company." said her mother.

Lily rolled her eyes and mumbled, "Lucky grandpa." "What was that?" her mother asked

sternly. "Oh, nothing." said Lily innocently.

Her mother then squealed, "Oh my goodness! Here we are! My hometown, the

place I grew up in, Castle Rock."

Lily tuned her head towards the window, her small, brown eyes examining the

tiny but somewhat beautiful town. She looked out the window to her left

and saw mountains and a forest that seemed to guard the town from the outside

world. There were a lot of old and worn down houses, there was a church to her left and

many convenient stores to her right. Lily was somehow mesmerized from the beauty of

this little town; it was like seeing something out of a movie.

"It's feels like I've never left home; everything's pretty much the same from

when I left. Isn't it beautiful?" asked her mother excitedly. "Yeah, it sure is." replied Lily

awestruck.

Just then her mother pulled out of Castle Rock and drove down a long dirt road, it

wasn't until about 10 minutes that out in the distance, Lily saw an old, but familiar

looking house. Her mother drove down the road until they reached the house, "We're

here…"


	2. It's going to be a long summer

The car drove slowly drove toward the tall white house.

Just then, it came to a stop, thrusting Lily into the back of her mother's seat.

"Jesus! What? Are you trying to kill me or something?" Lily asked while trying to catch her breath. "I'm so sorry hunny, but a cat just ran out into the middle of the driveway, I had to stop!" Lily rolled her eyes. Her mother then turned to her, "However, on the bright side, we made it to the house!"

Lily glared at her mother and slowly took off her seatbelt, cautiously getting out of the beat up station wagon. She then examined her "house" for the summer. It was about two stories. It was an off white, had bright blue shutters with a bright red door that was labelled 47. There was a large porch surrounding the front and sides of the house consisting of a two seat porch swing to the left and a brown rocking chair to the right. The roof was black and had numerous tiles missing and the two windows on the second floor were both dirty and cracked. This house sure needed some work.

Just then an old, frumpy looking woman burst through the bright red door, nearly breaking its hinges off. She had a blue and yellow sundress on, with a dirty apron overtop. She was wearing what seemed to be cat slippers, with the left one almost mangled to shreds. Her hair was short, curly, grey and frizzy. She had looked like she hadn't seen a mirror in over five years.

"Ruthy!" screamed the lady hobbling over to Lily's mother with her arms wide open. "Mom, how are you? It's been ages!" screamed Lily's mother running to hug her.

The two older woman embraced as Lily watched in silence while her white t-shirt flowed in the breeze over top of her blue jean shorts. She began to nervously twirl one of her long brown curls, this woman was nuts! I mean, she couldn't possibly last a whole summer with just her!

Just then Lily's grandmother turned to her direction and smiled, her crooked yellow teeth starring back at Lily. Lily's grandmother then limped over to where she was and tightly embraced her, nearly suffocating her in the process.

"Grandma… can't….breath!" Lily squeaked while turning beet red.

Her grandma let go and put both hands at Lily's sides, held her arms length away and began examining her. Her crystal blue eyes began to sparkle with satisfaction. "Well, you've certainly grown. Why, it seems like just yesterday when you were running around in a pretty little sun dress chasing the neighbourhood boys trying to kiss them!" Lily blushed as her grandmother put one arm around her shoulder and began to lead her inside the house, her mother following with her bags.

As they entered the house, Lily took notice to all of the antiques placed all around. There were old clocks, carpets, furniture, paintings and even dolls hanging from a choclate brown mantle in the living room wall. Her grandma's house may need work on the outside, but definitely not on the inside.

"So, this is my place! Let me give you the grand tour! Now, to the right in that room over there is the living room, it consists of the TV, a few books and furniture. Up ahead is the kitchen where we have breakfast, lunch and dinner, and maybe even a few desserts! Finally, up that staircase to your left is where you'll be staying, the room on the right, to be exact! So take you're bags and go on up, I'll just talk over a few rules with your mom while you get settled."

Lily smiled and nodded, "Well, bye mom, I'll see you in two months." Her mother smiled, tears streaming down her face, she gave Lily a big bear hug. "Now, you be good for grandma and don't get yourself into trouble, you hear? I love you so much, I'll call every day!" "I won't mom, and I love you too, have a nice trip okay?" Lily laughed. Her mother let go off her and examined her one last time, "bye." Lily sighed, "bye mom."

Lily then took her thinks and proceeded up the stairs to her new room. She then came to a white wooden door and slowly pushed it open. The room was pure white with pink flowers neatly painted in each corner of the walls. In the middle of the room sat a queen size bed, placed against the back wall. It had a floral designed headboard and white laced sheets. Beside the bed, where two white wicker tables, one with a phone, the other with a bouquet of Tiger Lilies. On the other side of the room was a white dresser, which design looked exactly like the bed. It had a huge mirror full of pictures and a counter full of makeup and hair products. To right of the mirror was a walk in closet full of sundresses, great, and old 1930's clothes. So this must be her mother's old room.

Lily went over to the bed and threw her things on top. She then went over the dresser and looked at all of the pictures. They were mostly of her mother and her friends, from when she was younger. However, there was one picture that stood out, it was a picture of Lily, when she was around five or six standing beside a cute looking boy. He was dressed in a black suite, while she was in one of her favourite pink and green dresses, they were both covered in mud hugging each other like they were best friends. Lily looked at the picture, her chocolate brown eyes full of confusion. Who was this boy? Why was she hugging him so tightly? Lily then flipped the picture over and read the words on the back. _Lily Davis and Christopher Chambers, summer of 1952._

Honk! Honk! Lily jumped, startled by the loud noise. She put the picture back in its place and ran to the dirty window and with some miracle opened it. She saw her mother begin to drive down the dirt highway. Lily waved and saw her mother wave back. She smiled rolling her eyes. However, her smile then faded when her grandmother called to her from downstairs. "Lily, were having horse liver for dinner tonight! Would you be a dear and go into town to pick up some lard? We seem to be all out!"

Lily frowned, this was going to be a long summer…


	3. Castle Rock

"Okay grandma, be right down!" Lily called back.

Lily then raced downstairs and into the kitchen to find her grandmother chopping a chicken's head and throwing it in a large silver pot. Lily cringed.

"So it's a 20 minute walk into town, said her grandmother while handing her two dollars, go to Larry's Convenience which is one of the first stores to the left on Main Street."

Lily took the money in her hand and stuffed into her pocket, "Okay, and what was it that you wanted again?" Her grandmother ran back into the kitchen and came out, giving Lily a piece of green paper. Lily examined it, trying to make out what was written on it.

"It's called Pig Skin Lard, it's quite useful in the kitchen, and it's my secret in every recipe I use!" said her grandmother. Lily forced a smile, "That's great grandma..." For Lily, the idea of eating Pig Skin Lard every night didn't sound too appetizing.

"Well you best be off now, before it gets too dark to walk back, then your screwed, cause I don't have a car!" said her grandmother throwing her hands up in the air. Lily laughed, slipped on her dark blue converses and went out the door trudging down the long dirt road.

It took her at least 10 minutes, if not longer to get to the town of Castle Rock. When she arrived she stopped to look around. It was completely deserted, except for a gang of boys all standing in a row up against a store, to the right side of the street.

There were around 6 boys, each one of them wearing leather jackets, except for the one in the middle. He had strawberry blonde hair, tight black pants, and a yellow and green shirt with a white tank top underneath. He had a beer bottle in one hand and a switch blade in the other. Lily gulped, he was trouble and judging from the other boys, and they were as well. Lily continued to stare at the boys for a couple of seconds before realizing that they were starring back. She quickly turned away, blushing, and ran into Larry's Convenience Store.

As soon as Lily had entered the store a cool breeze swept over her making her long hair sweep behind her back. The sweat on her arms and face soon evaporated making her shiver. The Store had the smell of body odour mixed with spices. There were around 4 aisles including refrigerated condiments towards the back of the store.

Lily began to walk around, like the town; the store was deserted as well. There was only Lily and two other boys who were fooling around with the candy dispenser. One of them was pudgier, had a stripped white and purple polo on, with light brown pants. He had short brown hair and ocean blue eyes. The other, who seemed to be tormenting the pudgier one, had brown hair that was slightly gelled back, glasses with a thick, black rim around the lenses, a green t-shirt with many dog tags hanging from his scrawny neck and black pants with white tennis shoes. He then turned his head towards the left, which made Lily's eyes go wide. His right ear was horribly burned, and it didn't even look like it belonged to his head.

The boy then turned and glared at Lily, his brown eyes like daggers. Lily gulped, quickly turned away and walked towards the clerk.

The clerk was a fat, stumpy man whose fingers looked like large sausages. He had on a bright purple shirt on that said "Pie Eat Champion 1959", which had many grease stains on it. His cheeks took up most of his face, barely revealing his small brown eyes. He had short brown hair with little grey hairs sticking up every once in a while. On his shirt was a name tag that said "Larry".

Lily slowly walked up to the counter and placed the green paper on the glass counter. However, Larry didn't seem to notice, he was to busy eyeing the boys in the back.

Lily coughed to get his attention. He then looked down, his beady eyes staring into hers. "May I help you?" He asked his voice husky and deep, which sounded as if he had one too many cigars. "Umm, Lily stammered, I was just wondering if you could get me some Pig Skin Lard? It's for my grandmother." Larry eyed her suspiciously, "You Peggy's granddaughter?" he asked. "Yeah…." She said cautiously, "why?" "Oh, well Peggy said she had a granddaughter comin' in this summer." He fiddled through to cupboards. "Anybody ever tell you, you look like her?" Lily thought for a moment, "Yeah, sometimes."

The cashier then took out a big jar of Pig Skin Lard, "Here ya go kid, this should be enough, that's two dollars." He held out his hand waiting for the money. Lily smiled, thanked him and handed him two dollar bills. She then took the jar and headed for the door.

Just then she heard a loud crack from behind her. She looked down and saw hundreds of different coloured gumballs form around her feet. She swiftly turned around and heard Larry yelling at the two boys at the back, "YOU SONS OF BITCHES, GET THE HELL OUTTA MY STORE YOU HERE?" He began to chase them around the store, knocking over piles of food. Then, faster then lightning the two boys swept passed Lily out of the store and ran off down the road, the scrawny one laughing like a hyena.

Lily gasped at Larry, his face beet red, and ran out of the store into the hot, muggy summer day. Once out of the store she began to burst into fits of hysteria. Lily looked up at the clock and saw that it was 4:00pm, only two more hours till the sun went down, she had some time to kill.

Lily began to explore the town, going into different shops and talking to locals. When she got to the end of the town, she decided to go back to her grandmothers. It was now 5:00pm, and she only had an hour left till dark.

As she began to walk back, she felt as if she was being followed. Maybe it was the two boys from the store? Maybe it was Larry? Ignoring it, she proceeded on. A couple of minutes past and she still heard the footsteps, whoever this person was, they weren't giving up. Lily then turned around to confront her stalker when her eyes widened and her mouth dropped to the ground.

It wasn't Larry nor the two boys, it was the boy with the red hair wearing the yellow and green shirt. With him was one of his gang members who had short brown hair revealing a scarred right eye . The red haired boy was smiling seductively at Lily. Both, had switch blades in their hands.


	4. Chris to The Rescue!

The red haired boy cautiously took a step forward, his black and white shoes barely making a sound. The two of them had to be at least 20, if not older. The toothpick in his mouth barely moved as he spoke in a soft but threatening tone, "Well, look who we got here Eyeball, fresh meat." The boy next to him chuckled, "I think I'll enjoy this", he said flipping open his switchblade.

Lily's breathing became heavy and shallow; she could feel the air escaping her lungs with every breath she took. After a few seconds that seemed like hours, she finally had the courage to speak. "Look guys, I don't want any trouble", her voice just above a whisper.

"Aw, did you hear that Ace? The little whore is trying to stick up for herself", snickered Eyeball. Ace laughed and took a few more steps forward, his piercing blue eyes not leaving Lily's for a second making her shiver all over. Ace smiled, "what? Are you scared of us or something? Come on, we won't hurt you, that much." The two boys then looked at each other, nodded and began towards Lily.

Reacting quickly Lily turned around, still carrying the Lard in her hands, and descended down an alleyway to her left, running as fats as she could. Once down the dark and narrow alley way she turned to see if the boys followed her. They were nowhere in sight. Filled with relief, Lily then proceeded out of the alleyway.

All of a sudden she came to a screeching halt. Appearing at the end of the alley, were four more boys, each of them carrying some type of object that could kill a person. Hyperventilating now, Lily turned around to run the other way unfortunately she ran right into Ace and Eyeball.

Ace grabbed Lily's left arm and pulled it up to his face. The Lard dropped to the ground, shattering into a million pieces. Lily tried to break free but Ace held her firmly, so firmly that Lily had noticed a tattoo of a snake entitled _Cobra_ on his right forearm. This had to be his gang's name.

All of a sudden Ace held up his switch blade to her face, "You scream of any kind and I slit your throat, you got that?" Lily tightened underneath his intense grip, gulped and nodded. Ace smiled a half menacingly smile, "good, now me and my boys here are gonna have a little fun with you, you're gonna stay still until were done, got it?" The Cobra's smiled.

Lily grew angry, she wasn't going to be man handled by some no good feebs, that' when she let out a blood curdling scream. The rest of the members covered their ears while Ace turned red with anger. He then grabbed pushed Lily onto the ground and got on top of her holding his knife to her neck. "Now, you're gonna get it", he said.

Lily closed her eyes and thought of her parents. What were they going to say? I mean, she hadn't even been in Castle Rock for a day an already she's gone and gotten herself killed!

All of a sudden a voice shouted out in the distance, "Hey! Leave her alone, Ace!"

Ace pushed off of Lily and went over to the voice, his gang followed. Watching from the corner of her eyes, Lily listened in closely to the conversation.

"What are you doing here Chambers? I thought I told you I never wanted to see you're gay ass near me ever again? Do you want to die?"

"You don't scare me Ace", said the boy. He looked young, maybe 15 or so.

"Go home, Chris", said Eyeball worriedly.

Ace snapped his fingers at Eyeball, "No, Eyeball, let him stay that way, we'll have even more fun today!"

"I'll hurt you Ace, I swear to god I will", said the boy firmly.

"Oh yeah Chambers, you and what army?" Ace said chuckling.

"I don't have an army Ace, but I do have evidence that you and your boys here boosted a car to drive to the back Harlow Road, just so you could go fishing." He said smugly.

"You're bluffing," said Ace sounding a bit nervous.

"Try me."

Ace turned around and looked at Lily. Eyeball touched Ace's shoulder, " Come on man, she's not worth it." Ace sneered and snapped his fingers at the gang. They then headed out of the alleyway hitting the boy as they passed.

Lily breathed a sigh of relief and closed her eyes, all the while remembering how to breathe again.

She then felt a figure standing over top of her. She slightly opened her eyes and that's when she saw him.


	5. Mud Fights, Weddings and Liver Oh my!

He was one of the most beautiful boys Lily had ever seen. He was tall, tan and some what muscular. He had short, dirty blonde hair and the most amazing blue and green wide eyes that shone in the light when he smiled. He had a small but slightly upturned nose and soft supple lips that any girl could kiss. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt with both sleeves rolled up to his shoulders. Completing his ensemble were tight blue jeans and dark blue converses. The sunlight shone on his back making him sparkle like the ocean when the sun hits the surface.

The beautiful boy placed his hand in front of Lily's face, "Are you alright? Ace can be a real asshole."

Lily didn't say anything; she couldn't do anything but stare.

The boy laughed, his laugh sounding like wind chimes in a cool breeze.

Lily blushed, "Yeah, sure!" She squeaked. She then took her hand into his. He then propped her up into standing position, acting like he had just lifted a feather off the ground.

The boy smiled at her, his perfectly white teeth practically blinding her, "I'm Chris, Chris Chambers."

Lily smiled weakly, "I'm Lily Davis." She said while giggling. _Chris Chambers_, she thought to herself. _Why does that name seem so familiar_? However, her thought quickly left her head when she saw the pile of Pig Skin Lard and its smashed jar right beside Chris.

Lily groaned, "Shit! My grandma's gonna kill me! I was supposed to get this for dinner tonight!" She looked at the big clock outside of the alleyway entrance, 5:30pm, shit.

She bent down beginning to scrape the lard off of the cold, dirty ground, attempting to put it back together, maybe her grandma won't notice?

Just then she felt a warm hand on top of hers. She looked up; Chris' face was just inches away from hers, his dazzling eyes staring into hers. She could literally taste the sweet honey scent of his cool breath. She felt her knees become wobbly, but forced herself to stay conscious.

"Hey, it's ok, we can always get you some new lard", he said reassuringly.

Lily sighed, "Yeah, but its two bucks, and I don't have enough money."

"Well, aren't you glad that I showed up?" He said jokingly, "It just so happens that I have 2 dollar bills in my pocket." He said taking out the money waving it around.

Lily opened her mouth to protest but Chris stopped her, "I won't let you say no."

Lily sighed, "It's just I can't let you do that, you've already done enough for me today."

Chris laughed loudly "Well why not save you one more time? Trust me, if I know Peggy, she'll whoop your ass if you don't get her what she wants!"

Lily's eyebrows furrowed together, "Wait, how do you know my grandma?"

"I go by her house every once in a while and help her out. We're family friends; we have been for some time now."

That's when Lily figured it out. "Christopher Chambers", she said whispering looking down in thought.

"What was that?" asked Chris looking at her confused.

"Oh! Nothing, nothing at all! Say, how would you like to come over for dinner tonight! I could sure use the company. Plus, the thought of having to eat horse liver by myself, doesn't sound too great. With you there at least I won't get in too much trouble for complaining."

Chris laughed, "That's sounds great!" He then looked at the church clock, "but first let's buy you some more lard."

Lily's eyes widened, "right! Let's do that!"

Leaving the mess of lard on the ground, the two got up and ran out of the alleyway and into Larry's Convenience Store.

After buying the lard, the two began to walk out of the town of Castle Rock, down the road and into the sunset.

While on their twenty minute journey, Lily talked all about her life up until this afternoon. She had explained where she grew up, her friends, family, school, why she was in Castle Rock for the summer and what she was planning to do here.

However through there exciting adventure, Chris hadn't said one word, he just listened, fascinated by her very presence. All he could do was smile at her.

They arrived at Peggy's house just after six. The sun had already set and the stars were out shining brighter than ever. Lily had hoped here grandmother wasn't too worried.

Just then the big red door burst open, like this morning, and out ran a disgruntled Peggy.

"Good sweet Mike! Lily, where have you been? I've been calling everyone asking if they've seen you!" she screamed, nearly erupting Lily's eardrum. "Do you realize how close I came to calling the police…. to calling your mother?"

Lily's eyes widened, "Whoa, grandma…. No need to do something drastic!"

Her grandmother laughed and wrapped her long, scrawny arms around Lily. "I'm just so glad your alright, you had me worried sick. What if something were to happen to you?"

Lily pulled away from her grandmother and sighed, "Well grandma, something almost did happen to me today, but Chris here", said Lily wrapping one arm around him, "saved my life."

Peggy looked relieved and then began to hug Chris, putting him into a death trap. Lily laughed.

She then pulled away, "thank you Christopher for helping my granddaughter out, I should pay you more than I usually do!"

Chris laughed, "Couldn't hurt. Oh and by the way, here's the lard that you asked for." He said handing her the large jar.

"Oh, why thank you Christopher, now I can really get cooking. We'll have dinner done in no time!"

Just then Lily squeaked with excitement.

Peggy and Chris looked at Lily confused.

Lily smiled, blushing, "Umm, I'll be right back; I just have to go inside and get something form upstairs!" She then ran into the house, up the stairs and went into her room.

When she got to her room she quickly searched the dresser full of pictures and snatched the one that she had been examining earlier today. She then ran downstairs and was shocked to find Chris and her grandmother already in the kitchen cooking up a storm.

Lily ran into the kitchen and handed Chris, who was sitting at the small kitchen table, the picture she had gotten.

He looked at it with wide eyes, "Hey! That's me, from when I was five! Wait, how'd you get this picture?"

Lily beamed with excitement. "I found it just today! I was searching through pictures on my mom's old dresser and I found this one! Read the back!"

He flipped the picture over and read it, grinning widely. "Oh yeah, I remember this! This is from the last time you came to visit! We were five years old, and you would always visit every summer. You were my only friend back then, you were my best friend. I remember being so devastated every time you left, I would cry for hours on end. It sucked that you never came back, we used to have so much fun!"

"Yeah, getting into mud fights, playing sports, playing hide in go seek." said Lily smiling.

"Yeah…" Chris said staring into space.

Just then Peggy came over with their food, "Oh yes I remember that, you two were attached at the hip, like two peas in a pod! I remember the day before you left. Lily, you and Christopher got married under the tree in the backyard! You two even had little gummy rings for each other, it was so cute! Unfortunately Lily ate hers and you got a divorce because of it!" She said handing them their plates.

Lily blushed and looked away from Chris. They then got up from the table, proceeded to the porch outside, and sat on the swing.

Lily didn't have much of an appetite, but Chris sure did. He scarfed down his food so fast half of it didn't even go into his mouth.

They sat in silence for a while, until Lily said the first words. "So, shouldn't you phone your parent's or something to tell them that you're over here?"

Chris frowned looking down at his empty plate, "No, not really, my dad doesn't really give a damn where I am or who I'm with. You see my mom's dead and my dad's too drunk to even notice what year it is."

Lily looked down, feeling like an idiot for even asking. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked. Gosh, do I feel stupid."

Chris looked up and smiled, "Hey it's not your fault, you didn't know. I mean Eyeball and I could go missing for days at a time, and my dad wouldn't know… or even care for that matter."

Lily frowned; she slowly began her new question, "So…has your dad always been like that?"

Chris sighed, "No, we were once a happy family, I don't really remember that time, but we were. Then one day dad lost his job and mom died from cancer. After we became poor, things just went in a downward spiral from there. He even went so much as to beating us if we disobeyed."

Lily gasped, "He hits you?"

Chris shrugged, "yeah, but I've gotten used to it. He doesn't do it anymore as often as he used too. I think it's because me and Eyeball got older, and bigger."

Lily smiled at little, "So, have you told anyone about it?"

"Only Gordie, Vern and Teddy, my best friends, know. Although, we've never talked about it like this before.

"Oh, I'm sorry, we don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Lily said quietly.

"No, no! I like it; it's nice to have someone to talk to other than a bunch of goofballs all the time!" Chris said laughing.

Lily smiled, she was glad to be helping Chris, for a change.

The night rolled on, the two talked about the past in Castle Rock and more about Chris, his friends, family and school. They played football, told jokes and even had a mud fight or two.

It was now 9:00pm and after saying his goodbyes to Peggy, Lily walked Chris to the end of the dirt driveway.

"Well, it's been fun catching up, I hope to see you some more over the summer!" said Lily enthusiastically.

"Hey, how about tomorrow? You can come by the old tree house, which is just at the end of town, and up the hill. You can come and meet the guys!"

Lily smiled, "I'd like that, say noon tomorrow?"

"Noon it is." He said smiling and turning to walk home, he waved.

Lily waved back and watched him walk off; slowly fading with each step he took.

Lily squealed and ran back to the house, dashing through the door and up the stairs. She then got into her pyjamas and snuggled under the blankets looking at the picture and smiling, excited for a new day.

That was the first night Lily had dreamed of Chris.


	6. Meeting the Gang!

**Note: Yeah so this is Chapter 6 and thanks for the reviews, I didn't except it to be reviewed or even read so fast. I'll try to post more, however exams are coming up and I have to study. So I'll be spending less time on the computer. But I will try my best!**

**PS. I also realize that the dream sequence is sooo cheesy lol! But I love it and I got it from the show Even Stevens:P Anyway enjoy******

Lily awoke the next morning to the songbirds chirping and the morning sunlight shining through her dirty window. She looked at the clock; it was only ten o'clock in the morning. She still had some time.

She pulled the covers off of her body, stepped onto the cold, hardwood floor and did her morning stretch. She then picked out her clothes for the day, jean capris with a white t-shirt that had a large blue peace sign design on the front. She took her outfit and headed for the washroom, which was just across the hall from her room.

She stepped inside the large white room, her feet sticking to the cold tiles that made up the floor. There was a large pearl white mirror, a small shiny toilet to the right, and a beige shower/tub to her left. She placed her clothes and toiletries on the counter of the mirror and got in the shower. The warm water doused her shivering body, it felt nice.

Lily thought about the dream she had during the night. It was about Chris. They were on a beach, just as the sun was setting. She was dressed in a long white dress, while he was dressed in white pants and a white shirt. They had both ran to each other from opposite ends of the beach, meeting in the middle.

_**Chris grabbed Lily by the arms pulling her close ,"Lily, I love you and I always have. When you left me all those years ago, my heart shattered into a million pieces! However, now that you're back, it's stitched back up again, with your love." **_

_**Lily smiled, "Oh, Chris! I've loved you too! All these years I've felt dead! Now, with you here, I feel so alive!"**_

Then Chris leaned forward to kiss Lily, unfortunately she woke up just before it happened.

Finished with her shower, Lily then dried her hair, put on some makeup, brushed her teeth and went downstairs for some breakfast. She was hoping it wasn't going to be left over horse liver.

As she came closer to the kitchen she could smell the sweet aroma of maple syrup and melted butter fill the air. She walked into the kitchen and found, to her surprise, something good waiting for her to eat.

Lily licked her lips and rubbed her stomach, "Mmm, pancakes, my favourite!" She then sat at the table and ate five golden brown pancakes in 5 minutes flat, dripping in maple syrup.

Her grandma then placed more on her plate, "your mom said this was your favourite thing to eat in the morning."

"It sure is!" she said scarfing down the remaining pancakes on her plate.

Her grandmother looked at her funny, "Are you in hurry or something?"

Lily smiled and finished chewing; she looked at the clock hanging above the fridge. It was now eleven thirty. "Yeah, I have to meet Chris and his friends at noon on the other end of town."

"Well that's nice. I'm glad you found yourself some new friends already. If you didn't, I wouldn't know what to do with you!"

Lily laughed, "Yeah, well I better get going, don't want to be late!" she said drinking the rest of her orange juice. "The pancakes were awesome!"

She then slipped on her shoes and then ran out the door and onto the driveway.

It was eleven fifty, when she arrived just outside of the town. She thought to herself, _Okay, I still have ten_ _minutes to get to the other end of the town, that shouldn't be too hard_.

Lily than began to walk to the other end of town. She was trying to be as sneaky as possible; she didn't want a run in with Ace and his gang like yesterday.

Only after a couple of minutes, she made it to the end. _Whew_, she thought, _now I have to keep this up for the rest of the summer_!_ Great_... Lily then saw the hill to her right and took the path that lead to the top. Once up the hill she saw the large, wooden tree house sitting on top of a large Oak tree just on the edge of the hill, which overlooked the town.

She slowly walked to the bottom of the tree and began to climb the ladder, which was made out of pieces of wood nailed to the tree. She could hear a group of boys shouting and laughing above her, she cautiously knocked.

Just then a muffled voice answered her knock, "That's not the secret knock!"

Lily spoke in a soft voice, "its Lily…"

The door on the bottom then swung open and out popped Chris' head, he smiled at Lily and held out his hand for her, "Hey Lil! Nice for you to drop by! Come on in, we've been expecting you."

Lily grabbed Chris hand hesitantly and he lifted her into the tree house. Once inside she looked around, it was bigger on the inside then what she expected. There was a large opening on the end of the house that overlooked the town. In the middle of the house was a small, wobbly table that had a pile of playing cards scattered around it. There were coca cola bottles and magazines everywhere. There were 4 chairs placed randomly around the house, each one of them filled with a boy.

To the left was Chris, he was collecting the pile of cards and organizing them. To the right of her were the two boys that she had seen in Larry's Convenience Store yesterday. However, there was one boy, near the window, with a magazine in his hands that she didn't recognize. He was extremely skinny and pale, had a red and yellow striped shirt on with tight light blue jeans that clung to his waist. He had brown, gelled hair and large brown, almost doe like eyes.

He then smiled at Lily and introduced himself, "Hey, I'm Gordie, Chris has told us everything about you!" He had a soft, subtle voice, that hadn't quite dropped yet.

Lily smiled, "Nice to meet you, and I hope he hasn't told you everything." She said giving Chris a stern look.

Just then the boy with the large glasses spoke, "Yeah, rolling around in the mud, playing tackle football, sounds about right to me!" He then laughed his Hyena like laugh.

"Shut up Teddy!" said Chris throwing the pile of cards at his face.

The other three boys then got together, wrapping their arms around each other, "I don't shut up I grow up, and when I look at you I throw up! Blagh!" They chanted while sticking their index fingers down their throats.

Chris rolled his eyes and looked at Lily, "Sorry, they kind of dragged it outta me." He shrugged his shoulders.

The pudgier boy then tapped Lily on her shoulder, "Hey! Chris said you guys ate horse liver for dinner last night. Do you think you could get your grandma to make me some? It's my favourite!"

"I'll see what I can do umm.." she said pointing her finger at him.

"Vern, Vern Tessio!" He took Lily's hand and shook it fiercely. "Nice too meet you, sincerely!"

With much force Lily eventually pulled her hand away from Vern, awkwardly wiping the sweat that she got from his hand on her capris.

"Nice to meet you too", she said forcing a smile in his direction.

It was silent for a few minutes until Gordie spoke up, "So, how are you liking Castle Rock so far?"

Lily shrugged, "its okay, everyone's been really nice," she paused, "well except for this guy named Ace and his gang." Lily and Chris looked at each other.

"Oh, yeah, Chris told us about your run in with the Cobras, were you scared?" Asked Gordie

Lily scrunched her nose up and pressed her lips together, "Umm, at first I was, but then Chris came, and some how my fears just went away."

Chris smiled at Lily.

Teddy looked at Lily with fear in his eyes, "I wouldn't be so sure your safe yet, Ace is tough, man, real tough, what he wants he gets, and by the sounds of it, he wants you!" He pointed his skinny index finger straight at Lily's face and began bursting into hits of hysteria, making his dog tags swing violently from his neck.

Chris shook him off and looked at Lily, "don't worry Lil, Teddy's just screwin around with ya, Ace talks the talk, but in reality he's got no balls!"

Lily laughed, "and how do you know this?"

Gordie smiled, "Well, let's just say we've been in a worse situation when we were twelve, and trust us, nothing happened! In fact, we scared him off!"

All four boys laughed, "Yeah man, that was great, really great!" said Vern, his face beaming with joy.

Lily looked at the four boys, confusion in her eyes.

Gordie stopped laughing and looked at Chris, "you want to tell her? Afterall, she is your guest."

Just then the four boys stopped laughing and Chris turned to face Lily, his eyes starring into hers. "Okay, so like Gordie said, when we were all twelve, about three years ago, on labour day weekend, the four of us went to search for a dead body."

Lily's eyes widened, "Oh my..."

"Yeah", Chris said nodding, "I know. Anyway, we found the kid and were ready to bring him back to Castle Rock, when all of a sudden Ace shows up and threatens to kill us all if we took the body."

Lily took a deep breathe in, her chest expanding like a balloon.

"A few words were exchanged and he put a knife up to my neck. Next thing I knew a gunshot had gone off and Ace was backing away from me. I think it was actually the first real time Ace had genuine fear in his eyes. Cause soon after, he and the rest of the Cobras left, threatening to get us back."

"Did he ever get you back?" She asked leaning in closely.

Chris looked at the 3 boys, "Yeah, and it was pretty bad too."

Lily looked at him confused, "But, yesterday, he didn't even lay a finger on you, he seemed kinda scared of you."

Chris shrugged, "Well, Ace is like that, you just have to say the right wordsto him, that way he'll back off and he won't lay a finger on you."

Lily looked impressed, "so, what happened to the body?"

"We made a anonymous call to the police, we thought it was the right thing to do." Gordie said.

Teddy rolled his eyes, "yeah, maybe for you guys it was, but I still think we should have turned the body in ourselves, we could have been famous!"

Chris punched Teddy, "you're a retard, Teddy, you do know that right?"

Teddy shot a glance at him, "whatever Chambers."

Just then Vern chirped in, "Yeah, Billy was really pissed at me when I got home that Sunday, he beat me up bad."

Lily looked at Vern, "you're brother's part of the Cobras?"

"Yeah, and so is my brother, Eyeball. He's the one that's always by Ace's side."

"Yeah, he's like Ace's little bitch!" Teddy said snickering.

Chris rolled his eyes, "Anyway, my advice is to stay away from the Cobra's as far as possible and don't do anything stupid!"

Lily nodded, "Yeah, I kind of got that from what happened yesterday."

The boys laughed and just then a loud grumbling sound erupted the little tree house.

Vern's cheeks turned bright red, "opps, sorry. I was so excited to meet Lily today I forgot to have second helpings of breakfast this morning!" He began to rub his stomach.

Lily laughed, "no worries Vern, I brought some money, why don't we get out of this tree house and go get some ice cream?"

Gordie shrugged his shoulders and put down his magazine, "Sure sounds great I could use something cool in this extreme heat."

The four boys and Lily then opened the door, climbed down the tree house ladder and walked down the trail and into the town of Castle Rock.


	7. A run in with Ace Again!

The heat from the midday sun blazed down on the five teens as they walked down the hot road while exploring the scenery and different shops of Castle Rock.

"Now over in that store, that's where they sell your basics," said Chris pointing to a small, brown wooden store that had orange letters painted over the glass window. It was called _Castle Rock Convenience_.

"Yeah, that's the only place for miles where you can get a decent pair of socks and underwear", said Gordie flicking rocks on the black top.

Teddy groaned, "Aw come on you guys! I mean, are we gonna walk around all day showing Lily here the same old shit over and over again? Or, are we gonna do something fun?!" He looked seriously at the rest of the group. "Summer only does last 2 months!"

Vern bit his lip and shrugged, "Teddy does have a point." He then tapped Lily on the shoulder, "Didn't you say somethin about buying us some ice cream?"

"Oh, yeah! Do you wanna..." Just then she was interrupted by Teddy.

"Jesus Verno! Would you forget about the fucking ice cream!" He threw his arms up into the air. "Come on! Let's do something fun! Why don't we go swimming? Or, how about we take a trip to the back Harlow road. It'll be fun!"

Chris looked at him like he was nuts. "Are you fucking kiddin' me man? Do you remember what happened last time we went to the back Harlow road? We almost got the shit kicked out of us by Ace that's what!"

Teddy looked down at the ground and mumbled to himself, "pussy."

Chris glared at Teddy, moving in closer to him, "what did you call me?"

Teddy looked up with an evil look in his eyes, "I called you a pussy!"

"You know what Teddy? You're a real asshole and if I had half a mind..." Chris began.

Just then Lily interrupted, "alright stop it!" She said pushing apart the two bickering boys and holding them back from each other. "Look, you both are being real assholes right now, so just shut up and stop fighting!"

Chris looked to Teddy, "Sorry man, I didn't mean to call you an asshole." He held out his hand, "skin it?"

Teddy rolled his eyes and smoothed his hand over Chris'. "Yeah, yeah, skin it."

Lily smiled and sighed; she then looked over her shoulder and noticed a group of dark figures coming down the road towards her and the gang. She couldn't exactly make out who they were, so she placed her hand over her eyes, shielding them from the afternoon sun. As they drew closer Lily's eyes went as wide as they could go. It was him, and he was heading straight for her.

Lily took a step back, unnoticed by Chris or the others who were bickering about where to go next, that is, until Lily grabbed Chris' arm tightly. He turned his head and looked at her, concerned filling his face.

"What is it Lil?" he asked suspiciously.

Lily took a deep breath in, "Ace…," she slowly exhaled.

Chris' eyes went wide and he turned to the others, and then back to Lily, "Come on, we should get you outta here, before he sees you." He said grabbing her arm and pulling her in the opposite direction.

Just then a voice called out, "not so fast! Where do you think you're going Chambers?"

The five teens closed there eyes and slowly turned around in unison, facing Ace and the Cobras.

Lily looked at Ace in awe. His fiery red hair shone in the sunlight, his white teeth were blinding when he smiled that half smile of his. He wore an all black ensemble, making him stand out from the rest of his gang like a sore thumb. He stood there, his piercing blue eyes fixed on Lily the whole time.

All was silent until Chris spoke up, "what do you want Ace?"

Ace looked at Chris, still smiling, "oh, I just wanted to officially welcome Lily here into the neighbourhood." He turned back to look at Lily, "I apologize for my rude behaviour yesterday. Please, let me make it up to you by taking you for a drive." He leaned in towards her and whispered. "You know, I just reinstalled some new cushions for the back seat. There a lot _easier_ on the back." He winked at her and he and the Cobras all laughed.

She looked at Ace disgusted and tried to leave, but he stopped her by grabbing the top of her arm and pulling her close. Flashbacks of yesterday filled her brain.

She could smell cigarettes and stale alcohol all over his clothes, his breath. He gripped her arm hard and brought his face right up to hers. "Don't be scared, he said, I like you." He turned to face Chris, "In fact I _want_ you."

Lily's stomach churned, she felt nauseous as his words echoed in her head. "_In fact I want you"_,she turned her head away breathing heavily, her whole body shaking with fear.

Infuriated, Chris then grabbed Lily's arm and pulled her away from him. She then ran and stood behind Gordie, rubbing her red arm in the process.

Chris walked up to Ace looking him dead in the face. "Get the fuck way from her man."

Ace smiled and looked back at the Cobras, "You here that boys? Chris is standing up to me." He looked back at Chris, "Nobody stands up to me…" He pulled out his switchblade and swung it around Chris' face. He didn't even flinch.

Just then Gordie walked over to Chris and put his hand on his shoulder. "Come on man, don't try to be a hero, he's not worth it."

"You know he's right, Chambers. Don't go and do something stupid now." said Ace still holding his knife to Chris' face.

Chris rolled his eyes and turned around to the others, "let's go."

He then pushed through The Cobras walking as fast as he could down the road. Lily and the others followed, all the while trying to avoid any eye contact with Ace.

As the Cobras became just distant shadows, Chris and the other four walked on until they were inside the tree house, safe from the likes of Ace.

All was silent for a while until Lily spoke up. "Look guys, I'm really sorry for what happened back there. If you don't want to hang out with me I totally understand."

"Don't be stupid Lil, we still want to hang out with you", said Gordie quietly.

"Yeah Lily, I mean you're a great gal, real swell!" said Vern, a goofy smile crossing his face.

"Yeah, don't mind Ace, he's just a wet end!" said Teddy bursting out in his unusual laugh.

The three boys laughed at Teddy's joke while Lily smiled. She was still a little shaken up from what had happened just minutes ago.

As the three boys began a game of Gin Rummy, Lily looked over to Chris, who hadn't said a word since the confrontation with Ace. He was looking down at the floor, dazed.

Lily waved her hand in front of his face, "Hey! Are you okay? You haven't said a word for a while now."

Chris snapped back to reality and looked at her, "What? Oh, yeah I'm fine, just thinking."

"Oh, okay. You want to play cards?" she asked.

He smiled slightly, "sure."

So for the rest of the afternoon the gang played cards and sipped a few beers that Teddy had stolen from his mom, while Gordie told one of his amazing stories. However, as much fun as they were having, Chris had barely said a word to anyone. Lily became worried, especially because he wasn't talking to her when he was walking her home.

Finally Lily decided to speak up, "Is something wrong? I mean, did I do something? Was it because of what happened this afternoon? Gordie? Teddy? Vern? You know I'm just wondering because, you haven't been talking and I'm getting really worri-." She began to ramble incoherently.

Chris stopped and covered her mouth with his hand; it sent shivers up her spine. "Lily, stop." He uncovered her mouth and she breathed in deeply.

"Look, everything is fine. No, you didn't do anything and neither did the rest of the guys. What Ace? Fuck Ace, he's nothing but an asshole, I'm not upset by him or his gang.

She looked at him confused, "then if it wasn't me, the gang or Ace, then why were you so quiet?"

He looked down at the gravel kicking the dirt, both hands tucked in his front pockets. "Well, you see, I wanted to ask you something, and I wasn't sure how to…"

Lily's mouth opened, "Oh…" was all she could say. She smiled a little, "Well do you know how to now?"

He looked up and smiled, his white teeth gleaming in the sun, "Yeah, I think so…" He cleared his throat and began, "I was just wondering, if you're not doing anything, that maybe you'd like to go to the Castle Rock 4th of July Carnival this Friday?"

Lily was in shock. She had never been asked out by a boy before, let alone a good looking one, she smiled and nodded her head furiously.

Chris looked confused, "Umm, is that a yes or a no?"

She shook her hand and pulled herself together, "Y-y-yes! Yes! That is a definite yes!" She squealed, not holding back any excitement.

"Great! So it's starts at 1:00pm and goes till about midnight. It's really great, there's food, prizes and even a few crappy rides. So, I'll be over at about 12:30pm? Is that okay?"

Lily nodded, "yeah that's good. Oh, are Gordie, Teddy and Vern going to be there?"

Chris shook his head, "no, carnivals aren't really there thing. There probably just gonna go to Teddy's and drink all night. His mom usually goes outta town during the weekends."

"Oh, okay." She looked around and saw that they had already arrived at her grandmother's house. She turned back to Chris. "Well I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'll see you." He lifted up his hand and waved.

"Bye!" She kissed him lightly on the cheek, he blushed slightly, she ran inside, slamming the door, trying to contain herself.

If only Friday would come sooner!

**\**

**Wow that took me a while to do! Anyway thank you all who have read this and want more, for putting up with me. I've just been really busy, what with exams, my birthday, driving etc. It's been crazy. So yeah, thanks and I'll try to update a much as I can!:)**

iHis


	8. Chris' House

Lily awoke, once again with the bright morning sunlight pouring through her window, making it hard for her to adjust her eyes. She stretched her arms up and pulled off her covers. She stepped onto the cold hard wood floor and picked out her clothes for the day. That's when she remembered.

It was the day she had been yearning for the entire week, the day that she had thought would never come. It was the day she had her date with Chris! It was Friday.

Lily smacked her head, dumbfounded, "how could I have forgotten?" She looked at the clock, it was 11:30pm. "Shit! I only have half an hour!"

She threw her first choice of clothes on her bed and picked out the girliest thing

she had, a white sundress. Perfect.

She then ran to the bathroom, quickly took a shower, put on her clothes, did her face and ran downstairs.

She found her grandmother in the kitchen making eggs and bacon. Lily grabbed a piece of buttered toast and shoved it down her throat along with a glass of orange juice.

"My, my, aren't we in a bit of a hurry this morning." said her grandmother adding some bacon to a large white plate. She handed it to Lily.

Lily gave the plate back to her grandmother, "Oh, no thanks grandma, none for me. You see I over slept and I have to go and meet Chris like right now!"

Her grandma shrugged and put the plate down, "Oh, well I thought that Christopher was going to come and get you?"

"Yeah, that was the original plan. But, I figured since he always walks me home, he shouldn't have to come and get me too. So, yesterday I had asked Gordie where Chris lived, he told me, and now I'm going to go and surprise him!"

"Are you sure about that? What if he doesn't like being surprised?"

"Don't worry grandma, Chris has been through worse." She looked at the clock, it was now noon. "Crap! I have to hurry before he leaves." She then went to the doorway and put on her shoes." Bye, I'll be back around 10!" she called to her grandmother while heading out the door.

"Ok, don't try to have too much fun", her grandmother called back.

But before she could get a response Lily was already at the end of the driveway.

For the entire week she had been in Castle Rock Lily had gotten to know the four boys quite well. She had learned about Gordie's older brother and how he had died, his parents, and how they act like he doesn't exist. She learnt about Teddy's father, and how he almost burnt his left ear off with a stove. She even learnt about Vern's obsession with finding his pennies. Lily loved to hang out with the four boys and she even felt like she was becoming part of their little group.

When she finally made into Castle Rock, her eyes went wide. There were people everywhere. She hadn't seen this many people since she had visited the Mall of America over two years ago. She looked around and saw many different concession stands. There was one selling cotton candy and another selling caramel covered apples. There were a few shitty rides here and there and there was also a band playing on a small stage at the other end of the town. Above her was a large sign that read in big bold letters, _Castle Rock's 47__th__ annual 4__th__ of July Carnival Extravaganza!_

"Wow, they really go all out for this, don't they?" She mumbled to herself.

She then made her way through the enormous crowd for a couple until she came across a road that led to an unfamiliar looking part of town. She went down the road, away from all of the noise and excitement, and ended up in what seemed to be a deserted area.

There were tons of old and what looked like abandoned house all lined up on either side of her. Most of them were torn up and small. The grass wasn't green like the rest of the town, but rather brown and dingy. As she walked farther down the road she could hear a husband and wife screaming at each other and children crying. This is the place where people with little money could afford to live.

She finally came upon the last house at the end of the road. It was an off white, its hinges and windows were broken, its paint chipped. The front lawn was cluttered with little kid's toys, and it was very small in size. Compared to this house, her grandmother's seemed like a palace. Lily looked at the number of the house, 1747 Chester Avenue.

This was Chris' home.

She slowly walked up to the front door; it was painted a fading grey. She knocked lightly on the door, hoping that Chris would answer.

She waited for about 5 minutes before the door slowly creaked open. Lily stood frozen, a woman had answered the door.

Lily looked her over; she was short, pudgy and had red hair and green eyes. She had large bags, almost the size of craters underneath her eyes, and too much pink blush and blue eye shadow on. She smelt exactly like Ace, but with a hint of orange perfume. She wore a tight leather top which showed most of her cleavage and a black laced bra. Her belly button was visible and her leather skirt was so short, Lily could tell what colour underwear she had on. She wore ripped, black mesh leggings and high leather boots.

She looked at Lily, eyeing her up and down, "Who are you?"

Lily shook her head and cleared her throat, "I'm Lily, Lily Davis. I'm here to see Chris."

She nodded her head, "That's the younger one right? Good choice, he's cute."

Lily smiled awkwardly; she looked over her shoulder hoping to see Chris. Unfortunately she saw nothing and she and the strange woman stood their looking like idiots.

Just then a familiar voice called out from inside the house, "Lily?"

Lily looked over the woman's shoulder and saw Chris coming down the stairs, putting on a white shirt.

He pushed passed the woman and stepped out the door, "Denise, nice to see you again."

Denise smiled, her teeth as yellow as a school bus, she then nodded at Chris and Lily and closed the door behind them.

Lily laughed, "Who was that?"

"That was my dad's hooker, Denise. She comes to our house every week or so. But what are you doing here? How did you find out where I live?"

Lily smiled, "Oh, I wanted to surprise you, so I asked Gordie and he told me." She looked at the ground. "I mean, I thought it was the least I could do because you're always walking me home."

"Well thanks." He stopped and examined her, "you look amazing. I don't think I've ever seen you in a dress before."

She smiled, "thank you." She looked at him and smiled, "you look amazing as well! A nice clean shirt and pressed pants. You didn't have to go all out, it's just me!"

"That's exactly why I did it, because of you."

She blushed, "Well, thank you that was very nice of you."

He held out his hand, "shall we?"

She took his hand in hers, goose bumps going up her arm, "lets!"

The two of them walked down the road, hand in hand, towards the carnival.

This was going to be one heck of a night.

**Short Chapter, I know. But that's how I wanted it, short and sweet!**


	9. When The Night has come

When they arrived at the Carnival the first thing Chris did was buy some cotton candy for each of them. They then played various games, Chris even won a stuffed animal for her, and they rode some of the rides. They even checked out the annual pie eating contest where the local radio DJ had won. It was a great day and Lily was hoping that it would never end.

It was now 9:00pm, the moon was out and both Chris and Lily were tired of being at the carnival, so they decided to visit the tree house for a quick game of Gin Rummy.

While they were just about up the trail leading to the large oak tree, Chris stopped in his tracks.

Lily followed and looked confused, "Chris, what are you doing, the tree house is just over there." She pointed.

Chris turned to her, "You know what? Let's not go to the tree house. I was thinking, maybe we could go somewhere different."

Lily tilted her head, "like where?"

Chris grabbed her hand, "come on I'll show you!"

The two of them then proceeded up the hill, past the tree house and up a steep trail that took them what seemed like forever to walk up.

Finally, after a few minute of walking, Chris stopped in front of a closing of trees, "close your eyes and don't open them until I tell you."

He then pushed open the branches, pulling Lily through. She could feel and hear the rustle of the leaves brush past her. She then stopped.

"Okay, you can open them now."

She cautiously opened her eyes and looked around. Her jaw dropped to the ground and her eyes got big. Where were they?

They were on top of a small grassy hill that overlooked all of Castle Rock. Lily looked down and could see the carnival in all its glory, brightly lighting up the entire town. She looked up to the moon, just above her head, brightly shining from the sparkling stars that hugged it. She felt as if she could reach up and grab one.

She looked over at Chris in amazement, "How did you find this place?"

He came over to her and they both sat down on the grass, "I found this a couple of years ago, when I was 12. It was just after the guys and I started junior high." He looked down while fidgeting with his fingers. "Sometimes I come here when I'm sad, mad or just plain happy. It's like my home away from home."

"It's beautiful!" she exclaimed.

He looked at her, "I know."

"Do the guys know about this place?"

He shook his head, "no, just me, and now you!"

"Well, I feel honoured that you could share this amazing place with me." She raised her right hand, "and I promise I won't tell anyone about it!"

He smiled, "good, because then I would have to kill you."

She slugged his arm, "Haha, you're so funny Chambers, a real comedian."

He shrugged, "Well I try."

She rolled her eyes and looked around. That's when she noticed a radio sitting by a large rock.

"Oh cool! A radio! Let's see if we can get some tunes."

She then picked up the radio and began playing with it but got nothing but static.

"I wouldn't waste me time with it. It's pretty old and shitty."

"Well I have the magic touch!" She said hitting the radio as hard as she could. Just then the song _Stand By Me_ came on.

Lily sighed, "I love this song, it makes me so happy when I hear it. My father used to sing it to me before bed when I was younger."

Chris stood up and outstretched his arm towards her, "would you like to dance?"

"I'd love to!" She said taking his hand and stepping toward him.

He pulled her in closer and she rested her head on his chest. They began to slowly sway around in a circle.

He started to hum the lyrics in her ear and she closed her eyes, letting only his voice guide her around.

She then pulled her head away from his chest and looked at him. "I'm having a really great time."

He smiled, "Yeah, me too."

"You know, I'm really glad I met you and the gang. In fact if I hadn't, I'd probably be stuck inside my grandma's for the whole summer learning how to cook with lard."

He laughed "I'm glad I met you too. You're the first real girl that I've actually liked in this town."

She looked surprised, "really? You mean you've never had a girlfriend?"

"A couple", he shrugged. "But nothing special. How about y0ou?"

She shrugged, "To be honest, I've never had a real boyfriend before." She laughed, "I've never even been on a date."

He laughed, "are you serious?"

She stopped dancing and hit him in the chest, "yes I'm serious!"

He kept laughing.

"Don't laugh it's not funny!" She chuckled.

He shook his head, "I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at the fact that you've never been on a date. I'm laughing because I find it hard to believe that any guy would be stupid enough to pass up a girl like you."

He raised her eyebrows, "be serious Chambers."

"I am being serious." He whispered.

She blushed and both of them stopped dancing. Chris' smile slowly faded, his ocean blue eyes starring deep into hers.

She couldn't breathe.

Slowly, he leaned in, she could smell his sweet breath fill her nostrils.

He then pressed his warm, lips very softly against hers.

Lily's whole body went tense, feeling as though an electric shock had just pulsated through her. Her blood boiled underneath her skin and her lips burned. She

wrapped her arms around his neck and began to smooth her fingers through his short, dirty blond hair. Her heart was beating so fast, she felt as if was about to burst through her chest. She had never experienced this kind of thing before, it was very overwhelming.

Just then loud cracks interrupted the two lovers. Lily stopped kissing Chris, pulled away slightly and saw what looked like to be a rainbow of fireworks light up the night sky.

She smiled and looked back at Chris with a goofy smile spread across his face.

"You know, for someone who's never been kissed, you're pretty good at it."

She shrugged, "what can I say, I'm a natural."

They both laughed and lied down on the grass watching the rest of the fireworks while talking endlessly into the night.

Soon, Lily began to feel drowsy and fought to keep her eyes open. Unfortunately she was losing the battle, and she swiftly rolled over to Chris, resting her head on his chest and slowly drifting off to sleep.

**O God! How cheesy is this chapter? But I LOVE it, was one of my favourites to write!**


	10. The Morning After

**Hey! I've been really busy lately and its taken me a while to write this chapter, but I hope you guys enjoy!:)**

_**Lily kissed Chris passionately, her lips crushing hard against his. She could hear the rolling waves of the ocean crash onto the shore of the beach. She could feel the warm glow of the sunset tingle on her skin as she wrapped her arms around his neck. She was in heaven. **_

However, before she could finish enjoying what was left of her dream, Lily awoke to the blue birds chirping in the distance.

She slowly opened both of her eyes to a bright, morning sun. She inhaled the scent of the pine trees and could feel the cold, dewy grass beneath her fingertips. She had fallen asleep on the grassy knoll where she and Chris had spent the previous night. Happily content with where she was, Lily began to drift off to sleep again when she surprisingly felt a warm hand on her right thigh.

She rolled over to her side, facing Chris, and smiled.

She examined him. The light from the sun contoured every shape of his face. His ocean blue eyes sparkled when he smiled, showing his perfect straight white teeth. She had felt as if he was just a figment of her imagination, but he wasn't. He was real, and he was with her.

_God, even in the early morning, he is still perfect, _she thought to herself.

"Good morning." He said lightly tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Good morning to you too." She said wearily smiling at him with her eyes half opened.

_Morning. Morning. Morning! Oh my fucking god its morning!_ She thought to herself.

Just then her eyes went wide and she bolted upright. "What time is it?"

Chris took out a gold pocket watch and looked at it. "It's ten am. Why?"

_Shit! Grandma's gonna kill me! No! No! She's gonna kill me, bring me back to life and then kill me again!_

She quickly put on her sandals and ran down the steep trail to the tree house with Chris following her lead.

"Wait, where are you going?" He said grabbing her arm to stop her.

"Look, Chris last night was probably one of the best dates of my life. In fact it was the only date of my life. However, right now I have to go home, because if I don't, my grandmother is going to put me on the ten most wanted list."

"Well, let me at least walk you home." He said taking hold of her hand.

She looked at him contemplating, "Alright."

He smiled and the two quickly walked the ten minute journey to her grandmother's house.

When they arrived they Lily stopped at the end of the dusty drive way.

She took both of his hands, "Thanks, for a great time last night."

"No problem, I hope we can do it again. I really like you Lily." He said and kissed her cheek.

"I really like you too, Chambers."

She then looked down the road at her grandmother's house, "Well, I gotta go. Bye."

He let go of her hand and waved, "bye. I'll call you."

She nodded and turned around proceeding towards the house. She then stopped and turned back to Chris, looking at him for some time.

Suddenly she ran back to him and kissed his soft, wet lips. She pulled away, "sorry, I just had too…" She then let go of his face and turned, skipping towards to the house.

When she arrived at the door, she turned her head and saw Chris standing there with a dumbfounded look on his face. She smirked and turned back around.

She stood there for a while thinking of all the horrible things her grandma could do to her.

_It won't be that bad, will it? I mean she can't murder me that would be illegal._

Lily took a deep breath in and slowly turned the doorknob. She slowly entered the house, the floor creaking with every step she took.

She looked around, it was quiet, and the house seemed to be empty.

She breathed a sigh of relief, _Now if I can just make it up to my bedroom, I can make it seem like I was here the whole time._

She began to proceed up the stairs, when she heard a voice coming from the living room.

"Well, how was your night?"

It was her grandmother; she was sitting in a large green chair knitting furiously.

Lily smiled weakly, "Hey grandma…."

She threw her knitting needles onto the chair and stood up straight, eyeing Lily up and down.

"Where in the sam hell were you? Do you realize how worried I've been? I have been sitting in that same chair all night waitin' for you to come home! What happened to _I'll be home at ten grandma._" She placed her hands on her hips, "I should send you back to your mother from all the trouble you've been puttin' me through!"

Lily looked down at her feet and mumbled, "I'm sorry…"

Her grandmother came closer toward her, "Lily, you're gonna have to speak up! I'm old, can't hear too good!"

"I said I'm sorry." She looked up, tears streaming down her face. "But you've have to know, nothing happened last night that should've happened between me and Chris."

"Now, why the hell am I supposed to believe that?" She asked furiously.

"Cause it's the truth..." She looked at her grandmother straight in the eyes before looking down again.

Her grandmother grabbed Lily's chin and brought her face up. She wiped the tears form her eyes and hugged her.

She sighed, "What am I going to do with you Miss Lily Davis?"

Lily smiled, "I don't know, but I really am sorry. I should have known better."

Her grandma pulled away from her and smoothed her hands through Lily's hair, "It's okay sweetie, but next time you call or tell me okay? Or they'll be real hell to pay!"

She laughed, "okay grandma."'

"Now, get upstairs and freshen up. I have bacon and eggs waitin' on the table for you to eat."

Lily nodded and ran upstairs to her room.

_I think I'll go and meet the gang today. See what there up to._ She thought to herself as she picked out her fresh smelling clothes.

_So far, this has been turning out to be a great summer. I just hope it lasts…_


	11. Take No Prisoners!

"TAKE NO PRISONERS!!!!" screamed Teddy at the top of his lungs while squirting water from a hose at Chris and Lily.

"Teddy stop!" Lily screamed, while trying to shield her face from the freezing cold water.

It was now the beginning of August and Lily and Chris had been dating for almost a month. They were head over heels for each other and were making the best of what little time they had together, although they would rarely talk about the end of the summer.

It had been a hot day so instead of meeting up at the tree house, the gang had decided to meet at Gordie's instead (Castle Rock hadn't seen any rain throughout all of July). They were all in the backyard. Gordie and Vern were playing cards on the patio, Teddy was running around spraying everything he could with the garden hose, and Chris and Lily were making out underneath a tree. That is until Teddy got to them.

"Fuck Teddy! Stop man!" hollered Chris attempting to grab the hose away from Teddy.

"Never," bellowed Teddy waving the hose over the two.

Just then the water from the hose died down and Teddy looked around only to find that Gordie had shut off the water.

"What the fuck Gordie? Can't you just let me have_ some_ fun?"

Gordie rolled his eyes at Teddy, "Act your age Teddy!"

"Whatever man, you're such a killjoy!" He screamed back at him.

Teddy turned back to face Lily and Chris who were now standing up straight, dripping from head to toe. They angrily looked at Teddy who had a stupid grin on his face.

"Aw come on guys! It's hot out, and you two could definitely have used a cooling down!" He laughed his hyena like laugh.

The two of them slowly inched towards Teddy, fury in their eyes.

"You are so dead!" said Lily lunging towards him with all her might.

She pinned Teddy to the ground. He screamed and dropped the hose onto the ground. Chris picked it up and signalled for Gordie to turn on the hose. Water came spurting out and he drenched Teddy in a matter of seconds.

He was wriggling to get free from Lily, when Vern called from the patio. "Hey guys! Gordie's mom made lemonade! C'mon!"

Chris dropped the hose and helped Lily off up and the two of them ran inside the house, away from an angered Teddy.

Lily looked around; Gordie's house was fairly big in size. There were many pictures of his older brother Denny hanging around the walls, and very few pictures of him. The walls were a dim, purple, colour that made Lily feel depressed from the moment she stepped foot in the house. She sat down at the dinning room table beside Chris.

"Here you go kids, take as much as you want." said Mrs, Lachance in a soft but monotone voice.

Lily looked at her and saw that she had tired, hollow eyes. Her hair was light brown with hints of grey hairs sticking up from each side of her head. Her skin was a pasty pale, much like her son's, and there were about a million little wrinkles surrounding her forehead every time she raised her eyebrows. She had on a flowery, beige dress that had many dirt stains on it.

She looked at Lily and smiled weakly. She looked like a sad woman that wanted to just get away from it all. A feeling Lily had known before.

When Mrs. Lachance went into the other room, Lily grabbed her cold drink of lemonade and slowly sipped it. The cool taste of it had sent shivers down her spine.

"Your mom seems nice," said Lily casually to Gordie.

"Yeah, she's okay, I guess." He said shrugging his shoulders. "It's just, it's been three years since Denny died and I don't think she still has gotten over it. It's like a part of her is missing."

Lily nodded, "How's your dad been handling it?"

"Meh, he's better now. The first couple of months were hard on him, like my mom. But after a year or so, he came around. I mean, he still doesn't love me, but he's come around."

Lily looked confused, "what do you mean?"

"Well, he acknowledges that I'm alive now and he's even starting to train me to become a football player, like Denny. He wants me to try out for the football team next year." He said while flexing his lack of muscles.

Teddy laughed, "yeah right Gordie. You, a football player? Please."

Lily gave Teddy a disgusted look, "Teddy, Gordie can do whatever he wants, and if that means he wants to become a football player, then let him do it."

Gordie sighed, "Yeah, but I don't want to be a football player. I want to be a writer."

"Then, why don't you do that? I've heard your stories, you're good."

"Please, and have my father hate me even more? No thanks." He said finishing off his lemonade.

He then took the rest of the empty cups of lemonade and put them in the sink in the kitchen.

Lily looked at Chris, "hey do you have the time?"

"Yeah," said Chris taking out his pocket watch, "It's a quarter after three."

"I have to be home by four." She looked at the rest of the gang, "I have to go guys, I'm helping my grandma make dinner. But, I'll see you later. Maybe tomorrow?"

"Yeah, see you tomorrow, Lil!" said Vern waving vigorously.

"Bye," said Teddy and Gordie in unison.

Chris and Lily headed out the door, hand in hand, and onto the road, walking towards the edge of town.

Lily stretched her arms out, letting the sun dry her off, "you know? I could kill Teddy for what he did."

Chris shrugged, "Don't worry about him. He's just an immature asshole. He's always been like that."

Chris pulled out a cigarette from his hair and put it in his mouth. He began to search through his pockets for his lighter.

"Goddamn, now where the hell did I put it?" He said while the cigarette loosely hung out if his mouth.

Lily rolled her eyes. She hated when Chris had a smoke in front of her. She had asked him to stop when they had officially become a couple. He had tried, but failed.

She sighed, "do you have to do that now?"

Chris looked at her about to light up his cigarette, "what?"

"You know I don't like it when you smoke." She said looking down at the ground.

"Why not? It relaxes me. Besides, there's nothing like a smoke after a meal…" He said taking the cigarette out of his mouth.

She stopped, "okay first, we didn't eat a meal, we had a glass of lemonade. Second, I don't like it because when were together I feel like I'm kissing an ash tray."

He smirked at her, put the cigarette back into his mouth and began to light it.

Lily crossed her arms and raised her left eyebrow. She then pulled the cigarette out of his mouth before he could take a puff and held it above his head.

"Lily, give me the cigarette now." He said irritated

"No." she said playfully waving it in his face.

"Lily I swear to God!" He said attempting to grab it out of her hand.

But before he could she flicked it on the ground and crushed it beneath her shoes.

He looked at her, trying to keep a smile from appearing across his face, "You are so dead!"

He then chased her around the road while she began shrieking, trying to run away.

He finally caught up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist lifting her off the ground, kissing her all over.

She began to giggle, barely able to breathe, "let go of me Chris!"

"Not until you apologize." He said holding tightly onto her.

"Fuck off Cha-" But before she could finish her sentence he kissed her.

Her whole body went numb, as his lips smothered hers. She liked the way he kissed her. She felt alive, almost invincible.

Just then she heard a familiar voice from behind her. That soft, threatening voice that had always managed to send shivers down her spine. Ace.

Lily turned around and saw that Ace had gotten out of a black and white car, and was leaning against the driver's side door.

"Well what the fuck d'you know about this? Our two little lovebirds having a special moment," he said as Eyeball laughed.

Chris let go of Lily and stepped in front of her to block her view of Ace.

Lily looked around and saw Ace light up a cigarette he had pulled out from his back pocket.

"So Chambers, have you fucked her yet?" He said nonchalantly while blowing smoke into his face.

"Fuck off Ace. Can't you just leave us alone?" Chris said angrily.

"I'm gonna say that's a no." He said smirking

He looked over Chris' shoulder at Lily, "Hey honey, that driving offer's still up on the table. You know, if you want to know what its like to be with a real man." He said kissing the air and patting the hood of his car.

Chris clenched his fists by his side and he stepped forward.

Ace looked at him apprehensively, "What do you want Chambers?"

Just then Lily heard a loud _**Thwack **_sound and saw that Chris had punched Ace, right in the nose area. Her jaw had dropped.

Ace was bent over, blood pouring from his face and onto his hands. He looked up at Chris, "now you're gonna get it."

Eyeball's eyes widened and motioned for Chris to run away.

Lily grabbed Chris' arm and the two ran down the road, hiding behind the nearest dumpster.

The two stayed there for some time waiting while they heard Ace's car drive off into the distance.

Lily looked at Chris, "I can't believe you did that! You know he's gonna kill you right?"

"Look, don't worry I can take him. I've done it before?" He said calmly

"Oh and have you ever won any of the times you've "taken" him?" She asked curiously.

He hesitated for a moment, "Kind of…"

She rolled her eyes, "Chris, I don't want you to get hurt."

He lightly touched her shoulder and looked her deep in her eyes, "Look, I know what I'm doing. Ace doesn't scare me."

She bit her lip, "you better hope so."

He smiled, "C'mon I think he's gone let's get you home."

She nodded and the two proceeded down the road towards her grandmother's house.

When they arrived at the end of the driveway, the two kissed and Lily went inside the house and up to her room, completely ignoring her grandmother.

She then sat on her bed and began to worry about Chris…and Ace.


	12. The End

"Rise and shine lazy bird!" Screamed Lily's grandma at the top of her lungs.

Lily moaned and slowly opened her eyes to see her grandma spreading apart the dusty white curtains that hung over the cracked windows in her room.

"What time is it?" She asked yawning and throwing her sheets over top of her head.

"It's just about noon!" said her grandma cheerfully while checking the clock.

"Oh my gosh!" Said Lily darting upright and throwing herself out of bed, "I slept in! I'm going to be so late!"

She then grabbed a pile of clothes and headed for the bathroom. She showered, did her hair and ran out the door.

She headed for town.

Two weeks had passed since the "Ace" incident with Chris and Lily and nothing really exciting had happened since. Castle Rock still had no rain and Ace was still an asshole, beating up Chris the night he had given him a black eye. Mr. Chambers had fled the country with Denise the hooker, taking all of there money and leaving Eyeball in charge. Chris didn't care though; he was glad that his dad was gone, that way he didn't have to put up with any of his "bullshit" as he so boldly put it.

Lily arrived at the tree house in less than ten minutes and climbed the ladder. She did the secret knock and the door to the house swung viciously open. She popped her head in and was surrounded by three angry looking boys. Teddy, Vern and Gordie we're all frowning at her.

'You're late", said Teddy flatly.

Lily bit her lip and tried to think of an excuse, "I know! It's just that I had to go to the bathroom right before I was about to leave the house…"

Gordie narrowed his eyes, "for three hours?"

She sighed and climbed into the tree house sitting down on one of the wobbly chairs

"Alright, I forgot to set my alarm and slept in."

The three of them groaned.

"Lily how could you forget what I told you last night? I mean, Chris is going to be here any minute and we've barely set up cause we've been waitin' on you!" said Vern.

Lily smiled weakly.

Today was Chris' sixteenth birthday and although he didn't want to celebrate it, the other's thought that it would do him good after all that had happened in the past couple of weeks. They had bundled up what they had left of their savings and bought a large chocolate and vanilla ice cream cake, Chris' favourite. Lily had found some party streamers and hats in her grandmother's spare room and all three of them had decorated the inside of the tree house the night before. Lily was supposed to meet them at nine so they could set up some more, but unfortunately forgot.

'Well do you at least have a present?" asked Gordie.

She clapped her hands and pointed at him.

"Yes, I actually do, but you can't see it." She said smiling.

"Why not?" asked Teddy curiously.

"Well because it's not wrapped up."

The boys looked at her unconvinced.

"I knew it! She doesn't even have a present for her own boyfriend's birthday! Shame on you." said Teddy waging his finger in her face.

She slapped his finger away and rolled her eyes, "for your information, I DO have a present. But like I said, it's not a thing, per say."

Gordie furrowed his eyebrows together, "what are you giving him exactly?"

"Well I really like Chris. I mean I _really_ like Chris and…" she began to trail off.

The three leaned in further, "And…" They urged on.

"And", she said looking down while fidgeting the last button on her white blouse, "I want to give him my…virginity." She said in a whisper.

Lily looked up and saw blank expressions on each of the boy's faces.

Gordie was about to say something when they heard someone knocking on the tree house door.

"O shit its Chris!" said Vern quietly.

The four of them got into position. Lily had lit the candles on the cake and Teddy and Vern had put on their party hats.

Gordie opened the door.

As soon as Chris had popped his head inside the four of them shouted, "Happy Birthday Chris!"

Chris groaned and climbed in the house, "I told you guys I didn't want a party!"

Lily smiled, put the cake own on the wobbly table and kissed him.

"Well we figured after all that you've been through and since it is your sweet sixteen that we'd throw you a little shindig." She said smiling.

He chuckled and shook his head, "only girls celebrate their sweet sixteen."

"That's not true!" She said putting her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, now, be a good little girl and blow out your candles so we can eat some of that delicious looking cake!" said Teddy laughing.

Chris rolled his eyes and punched Teddy in the arm, "fuck off."

He then leaned over and blew out all of the candles on the cake leaving only but one lit.

"One candle. You know what that means? You have a girlfriend." Said Gordie winking.

Teddy whispered to Chris, "So who's the lucky lady? And does Lily know about her?"

"Ha ha, you're too hilarious Teddy", said Lily flatly.

"Can we eat? I'm starving!" complained Vern while rubbing his stomach.

"Sure Verno", said Chris cutting a slice, "you can even have the first piece."

Vern smiled and grabbed the piece out of Chris' hands.

He cut the rest of the cake up and gave everyone a piece until it was gone. By the end of the day, Vern had at least five pieces while the rest of the gang had two.

After the cake, they sat around the tree house and each gave Chris their presents. Gordie had gotten him a new notebook and pencils for school. Vern had gotten him a homemade crisp apple pie that his mom had made and Teddy had gotten him some genuine dog tags from the war in which his father was in.

Soon, the sun began to set on Castle Rock and Vern, Teddy and Gordie were saying their goodbyes to Chris and Lily.

"Thanks guys for everything. The party was really great." He said smiling.

"No problem." said Gordie while patting him on the back.

"Well we gotta get going before our parents throw a fit. See you Chris and Lily." said Vern waving to the two before walking off with Gordie.

Teddy leaned in close to Chris, "You're in for a real treat tonight with this one!" He said nudging his friend in the ribs.

"Teddy!" said Lily surprised.

Chris looked at her confused.

She looked to him and then back at Teddy, "Um I think you should go now Teddy before your mother gets angry with you."

He smiled while raising his eyebrows, "alright you crazy kids but don't do anything I would do!" He shouted while trying to catch up with the others.

Lily and Chris rolled their eyes and when the three of them were out of sight, she took a hold of his hand and led him up the trail to his favourite spot where they had first kissed.

As soon as they had arrived at the grassy knoll, Lily whirled Chris around and brought his body close to hers, kissing him as hard as she could.

"Someone's in a good mood today…" He said kissing her back.

"Well today's been a good day!" She said as she rubbed her nose against his.

"Yeah it has…" He paused and then spoke again. "Listen…can we talk?"

She put her index finger to his lips, "Not before I give you my birthday present."

"You have a birthday present for me?" he asked surprised.

"Yeah I do, and you're gonna love it" She said kissing him.

She then began to undo the buttons on her blouse and opened her shirt only to reveal a black corseted lingerie top.

He stopped kissing her and looked at the top, "I like it but I don't think I'll be able to fit into it. What with my recent weight gain…"

She rolled her eyes, "Chris I'm not joking. I mean I love you and I want you to be my first." She began to kiss him again.

Chris stopped abruptly and pushed her away.

"What did you say?" he asked.

"I want you to be my first?"

"No, the other thing." He said with wide eyes.

"I said I love you." She said innocently.

He starred at her as if he had seen a ghost and was silent for a moment.

"Are you okay Chris?" she asked worriedly.

He let go of her and began to pace around, "yeah just give me a minute to take all of this in."

"What? You don't want to have sex with me?" she asked.

"Yeah I do but not like this, not right now." He said sighing.

"Well when do you suggest we do it? When I'm long gone from here? Cause you know that'll work out good." She said sarcastically.

"No! I don't think we should we should do it at all…" He said looking down.

She hesitated, "I don't understand. Why?"

He looked up at her, "because then it'll be harder to say goodbye when you leave."

She narrowed her eyes, "goodbye? Why would you say goodbye? I thought we were gonna try to have a relationship after I left…"

He shook his head and sighed, "What's the point Lily? Did you honestly think that this relationship would work out once you were gone?"

"Well, what I was thinking was that when I told you that I love you, you would say it back!" She said angrily.

Chris was silent.

"But you don't love me do you…" She said as tears began to well up in her eyes.

He came towards her, looking her in the eyes. "I didn't say that."

She sighed, "No Chris you didn't." She turned around and began to walk away.

Chris grabbed her arm, "Lily I didn't say that!"

He paused, "I just need some time to think things through. I mean everything is happening so fast. I feel like I can't keep up"

She rolled her eyes and laughed, shaking her head. "Well Chris, unfortunately for you I don't have time."

She then ripped her arm out of his hand and tore through the trail leading to the tree house.

With tears streaming own her face, she then ran down to the main road and headed for her grandmother's house.

She needed to be as far away from Chris as she possibly could right now.

**Wow this chapter took me a while to write. Sorry for it being so long I promise the next one won't be like this one. Anyway please Review******


	13. Meeting up with Ace

It was now early nightfall as Lily slowly trudged through Castle Rock towards her grandmother's house.

Walking down the road, she was so upset that she hadn't even noticed the shiny black car following closely behind her. All she could think about was her fight with Chris.

_God!_ She thought as she wept mascara filled tears that streaked her cheeks. _How could he do this? I mean I tell him that I love him and he says he wants some time? I just don't understand. Is it over between us?_

After this initial thought, more tears began to stream down her face. However they stopped when she noticed the black, shiny car pulling up beside her, driving the same speed as she was walking.

The window was rolled down but Lily could barely make out through her tear stained eyes who was in the drivers seat.

Just then the driver spoke in a cool and calm voice that had always managed to send chills up Lily's spine. It was Ace.

"Hello Lily and how are we doing this evening?" he asked nonchalantly over the revving engine.

Lily wiped the tears away from her face and rolled her eyes. "What do you want Ace?"

Ace looked offended, "Is it a crime to ask a fine lady like yourself a simple question?"

Lily stopped walking and starred straight at him. She didn't care if she pissed him off. She was upset and didn't want to talk to him. "Look. Spare me your bullshit and leave me alone. I'm having a really shitty night and I don't need to be bothered, especially by the likes of you."

"Ooh! Things aren't going well in lover's paradise I presume?" He asked interested

Lily sighed; "If you must know…" she hesitated, "yes. Chris and I broke up. At least I think we did."

"I'm sorry to hear that", he said unapologetically.

She shook her head and proceeded down the road.

Ace began to follow her again.

She stopped and turned to face him, "what do you want from me?"

He smiled, "Oh I think you know…"

She faked smiled back at him, "Well you're not gonna get it!"

"Well, could I at least give you a ride home?" He asked.

She looked at him like he was insane and shook her head. "I am not getting into a car with you. Besides it's only a ten minute walk. I'll be fine."

"Would you just get in the fucking car Lily?" He said annoyed.

"Well since you asked so nicely, no." She said sarcastically.

"Please. Just to know that you'll get home safe." he said more quietly.

Lily stopped and thought for a moment. _Well Chris did say not to walk around Castle Rock by myself at night._ She shivered at the thought of his name, _and it is pretty cold outside. _She looked back at Ace. _I guess it couldn't hurt to accept one ride from him. Could it?_

"Lily?" asked Ace impatiently. "Are you gonna accept the ride or are you gonna stand there all night looking like a fucking dumbass?"

Lily snapped back to reality, "what? Oh right, the ride." She sighed. "Alright you win."

Ace smiled his devilish smile and watched Lily as she entered into the passenger side of his car.

When she closed the rusty door Lily cringed at the stale aroma of warm, day old liquor that lied in bottles in the back seat and the smoky stench of the many cigarette butts that lay in and all around the ashtray by the radio. She put on her seatbelt and rolled down the window to escape the gut wrenching smells.

Ace turned his car around and instead of driving to Lily's grandmother's, headed the other way.

"Wait. Where are we going?" she asked. "I thought you were taking me to my grandmothers."

"I've decided to change plans and take a little detour." He said slyly.

"What? Ace where the fuck are you taking me?" she asked impatiently.

"You'll see…" he said starring straight ahead. "Ah, here we are now."

As he said this he pulled the car into the parking lot of a some what large brown building. Lily read the sign that said Irby's Billiards.

She turned to him and began to ramble, "A bar? You're taking me to a bar? This is your little detour? You're trying to get me drunk?"

"Would you just shut the fuck up?" he said parking the car and turning off the engine. He turned to her, "I'm trying to do shit all. Besides you need to let loose and have fun.

She protested, "I can have plenty of fun at my grandmothers. I do all the time!"

"What? Like cry about Chris for five hours?" he laughed, "trust me, he's not even worth it. Chris Chambers is a little shit and you can do so much better than him."

"What like you?" she asked.

"Yes like me." He said seriously.

"Whatever. Look, I'm not drinking tonight." she said.

Ace sighed and got out of the car, "Lily if you don't get your ass out of this car right now, I'm gonna do something I may regret later."

Lily contemplated for a moment. _I guess Ace does have a point. If I do go to grandmas, I probably will cry for five hours straight. Plus I do only have two weeks left before I leave... _

She took off her seatbelt, "Alright I'll do it! Tonight I'm gonna let loose and have fun!"

Ace smiled and went to open her car door, "after you."

She smiled, "Thanks."

As they entered the bar Lily looked around. It was dim lighted red and there were pool tables everywhere, all of them occupied by Ace look-alikes. The smell of the bar was much like Ace's car, except a lot more prominent. There were scantly clad dressed women everywhere, serving drinks to all the men.

Ace led her to the bar table where he ordered twos shots of tequila.

"So where's the rest of the Cobra's?" she asked casually.

"They're all out tryin to pick up girls." He said shrugging his shoulders.

Just then the bartender came back. "Nice to see you again Ace. Say, weren't you just here?" asked the bartender as he set down the two drinks on the table.

"Yeah well I figured I outta come back for more." said Ace downing one of the drinks. He gave the other to Lily.

Lily starred at it for a moment and then sighed, lifting the glass off of the counter.

"Cheers…" she said quietly as she downed her drink.

She gagged. She could feel the alcohol burn her throat as she swallowed. The taste was strong and she began to feel light headed.

She giggled, "wow! That was something!"

Ace smiled and called to the bartender, "hey! How about another one Bill!"

Bill the bartender gave Lily another shot of tequila and downed it just as fast as she had the one before.

_Maybe Ace isn't such a bad guy._ Lily thought as she drank her third glass of tequila. _I mean, he didn't try to pick up girls like the rest of his friends and he's being awfully nice. Maybe he's changing for the good._

Unfortunately for her, Ace had her right where he wanted, and it wasn't good.


	14. Hungover

Lily slowly opened her eyes and awoke the next morning. Her head was pounding like there was a jack hammer trying to break through her skull. Her stomach was in knots and she could taste the tequila on her breath that she had been drinking the night before.

She was hung over.

She turned her head to the side and looked at the black clock on the bedside table. It read seven thirty. She sighed and flopped back onto her pillow attempting to fall asleep.

However, something bothered her that wouldn't allow her to sleep. She pondered for a moment to think of what was wrong. She then shot open her blood shot eyes and finally realized what it was

She turned her body towards the bedside table and looked at the clock.

_I don't have a black clock,_ she thought.

She shot upright and looked around the unfamiliar room.

_My walls aren't dark blue either, and where's the dirty cracked window by my bed? _She thought.

She looked down at the bed, _these aren't my sheets. This isn't my bed._

"Where the fuck am I?" she asked herself.

Just then she heard a shower turn on in the bathroom across from her. Puzzled, she cautiously got out of bed but stopped when she realized she only had her bra and underwear on underneath the sheets.

_Why am I half naked in someone else's bed?_ She thought while wrapping the sheets around her body.

She slowly walked towards the bathroom door and opened it just a crack.

Her eyes widened as she saw a familiar looking guy with strawberry blonde hair and a familiar looking tattoo with a snake that read _Cobra_ on his arm.

It was Ace.

Lily covered her mouth in attempting not to scream. She stepped backwards and fell onto the bed.

_Oh my God!_ she thought. _This is Ace's room..._

"I slept with Ace!" she whispered loudly.

_I have to get out of here. I have to get as far away from here as possible._ She thought while putting on her clothes and sneakily running out of the house, onto the street.

Not a single person in the town was out so that gave her some relief. She didn't need anyone, especially Chris, to see her like this. Her hair was dishevelled and her makeup was smeared. She needed to get to her grandmother's as fast as she possibly could.

Soon, she made it onto the main road and that's when she began to rack her brain for a single memory of the night before.

Suddenly it all became clearer to her. Although she didn't remember everything, she did remember being in Ace's car after they had left the bar.

She had remembered being drunk and telling him everything that had happened with Chris that evening.

"_**You know, I tell him that I love him and then he says he wants to break up with me! How stupid is that?" **_She said slurring her words.

"_**It is pretty stupid. But then again, Chambers is a fucking idiot!"**_ he said laughing

"_**Ha! That he is!" **_She said in agreement.

She paused and slapped her hand on his leg_**.**_

"_**You know Ace**_, she slurred, _**you are a great guy!**_ _**You're not like Chris at all!**_ _**You're not afraid to say what you feel and that's what I like about you!"**_

He starred at her, _**"you like me?"**_

She inched closer towards him and giggled. _**"Maybe..."**_

Just then he kissed her. It wasn't soft and cautious kiss like Chris had done on their first date. It was a rough and bold kiss with Ace sticking his slobbery tongue down her throat. Lily felt as though she was suffocating and it made her uncomfortable.

However as much as she wanted to, she couldn't pull away. She thought about Chris and what he had said which only made her hunger for revenge. Not giving a second thought about it, she kissed Ace back as best as she could. She could taste the alcohol and nicotine on his breath.

He stopped and pulled her out of his car, carrying her in his arms.

_**"I think we'll be much more comfortable inside…"**_

The thought of this made Lily sick. She could feel her stomach acid rising up her throat. Covering her mouth she ran to the side of the road and threw up.

She wiped her mouth and rubbed the temples of her pounding head.

After a few moments of composing herself, she began to walk along the road towards the edge of town.

As she was walking, she heard someone, a male voice, from behind her call her name.

"Lily? Hey Lily! Turn around!" said the voice.

She turned around and saw the person coming towards her. He had light brown hair and thick rimmed glasses. She could hear his dog tags jingling as he ran toward her.

It was Teddy.

"Great, this is just what I need right now…" she mumbled to herself.

As he neared her, she noticed that he was carrying a fishing pole and tackle box.

"Hey Lil!" he said cheerfully.

"Hey Teddy." she said while fake smiling.

He looked at her appearance with curious eyes, "what are you doing up at seven thirty in the morning?"

"I should ask you the same thing", she said pointing to his fishing gear.

"Oh this? Yeah, sometimes I like to go fishing early in the mornings on the town bridge. Me and my old man used to go together all the time. Now I just go by myself."

He looked away for moment as if he was reminiscing. He then looked back to her.

"What about you?" he asked.

Lily hesitated trying to make up an excuse. She didn't want to exactly lie to him, but she didn't want to tell him the truth either.

But before she could say anything Teddy chimed in.

"Oh! I get it! You were with Chris last night weren't you? So how was he? How many times did you actually fuck? Did he show you any special moves? How abo-."

A pang of guilt twisted her heart when Chris' name was mentioned.

She then became frustrated with Teddy's game of 20 questions.

"Teddy!" She shouted.

Teddy became quiet and furrowed his eyebrows together.

"Are you okay? You seem really jumpy."

"Yeah I'm fine. Look, can we just not talk about Chris or last night please?" She said irritated.

"Yeah sure." he said looking down.

She looked at him apologetically.

"I'm sorry Teddy. It's just me and Chris got into a fight yesterday and we didn't spend the night together."

"Oh I see. But you're still gonna hang out with us though right? You're fight with Chris isn't gonna make things awkward is it?" he asked.

"I'll still hang out with you guys just not today. I'm really tired and I feel sick so I'm gonna go to my grandma's and rest."

"Okay! Feel better Lil." he said turning around and running in the opposite direction of her.

As soon as he was out of her sight, Lily sighed and turned around, heading for her grandmothers.

_That was a close one,_ she thought as she neared the house. _I'm just glad it was Teddy and not Chris._

She breathed in as she faced the red door. She was hoping her grandma was still asleep and wasn't mad like last time.

She opened the door and snuck in, tiptoeing lightly across the hard wood floor and up the stairs to her room. She slowly opened the door, went in and shut it as quietly and tightly as she possibly could.

She walked over to the bed and flopped onto it. The room was spinning and she could feel tears form in her eyes as she looked at the ceiling, thinking about what she had done and how everyone was going to react.

She thought about Gordie, Teddy and Vern finding out. If they did, they would probably think the lowest of her. She thought about how Ace would tell all of his friends about how he "conquered" her, which would dub her the town slut.

However, what really put Lily over the edge was the fact that if Chris found out he would probably never want to see, hear or speak to her again.

The tears in her eyes began to spill out onto her face.

She went over to her dresser and took the picture of her and Chris at the age of five, ripping it in half and throwing it in the trash.

She sat on her bed and curled up into a ball, wiping her tears on her leg.

It was over, her friendship with the gang, her relationship with Chris and ultimately, her life.


	15. Living like a mole

"Lily", came a muffled voice from outside of her bedroom door. It was her grandma.

It had been two days since Lily had been anywhere other than her grandma's house. As soon as she had gotten home from her run in with Teddy, she changed into her pyjamas and put on her pink house coat. She had rarely come out of her room other than to get food and use the washroom. Her floor was covered in used tissue and empty bags of cookies. Her face was beet red and her nose was raw from wiping it so much. She couldn't bear to see anyone looking like this, not even her grandmother.

"Yeah grandma?" She asked while blowing her nose into another tissue.

"Some boy is here to see you. He says his name is Gordie?"

Lily perked up and ran to her bedroom door, kicking all of the used tissue under the bed. Finally someone she actually wanted to see.

She opened it a crack and saw Gordie standing beside her grandma.

"Gordie? What are you doing here?" she asked surprised.

Her grandmother looked at the two, "I think I'll leave you two alone." She said as she made her way down the stairs.

Lily opened the door wider and pulled Gordie into her room.

He looked around, "Holy Shit Lil! What the hell have you been doing for the past two days?"

She closed the door and sat on her bed, "just being depressed that's all."

He sat down next to her and put his arm around her, "are you still upset about Chris?"

"No. Well kind of. I mean he is part of why I'm upset." she said undecided.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"There's more to it than just our break up." She said pulling away from his arm and standing up in front of him.

She began to pace around.

"Look, if I tell you something really big, do you promise not to tell anyone?"

He looked at her confused, "not even Chris?"

She stopped and came closer to him, "especially Chris."

He looked at her concerned, "Lil, you're starting to freak me out what's wrong?"

She sighed and sat down beside him again.

She hesitated and then whispered, "I had sex with Ace…"

She looked back to Gordie who was now starring straight ahead, his eyes bulging and his mouth dropped to the floor.

Lily waved her hand in front of his face, "Gordie? Hello? Are you okay?"

Gordie shook his head and looked at Lily, shocked.

"How did this happen?" He slowly choked out.

She sighed and started to ramble, "Well, after Chris and I broke up I was really upset while walking back here. Well then Ace shows up, takes me to Irby's Billiard, gets a few drinks down me and next thing you know I'm waking up half naked in his bed!"

Gordie got up and covered his ears, "I don't need to hear the nasty details."

Lily fiddled with her thumbs, "right, sorry."

After a few awkward moments of silence Gordie finally spoke up again.

"This is bad…" he said quietly.

"I know…" she said.

He looked back at her with fury in his eyes, "Lily."

She looked up at him. She had never seen Gordie so angry in the past two months that she had known him.

"I don't think you do realize how fucking bad this is! Ace is Chris' sworn enemy! They've been going at it for years and if Chris found out that you've done this, God knows what he'll do…"

Lily was silent; she didn't know what to say because she knew he was right.

"You must think I'm such a slut…" she whispered.

Gordie sat back down beside her and hugged her tightly.

"I don't think you're a slut at all. I think you're a human who made a mistake, like most humans do."

He paused and she looked up at him with watery eyes and a single tear streaming from her eye. She felt like he was the only one who could understand what she was going through. He was the only one that cared. She felt safe with him.

He wiped it with his index finger, "Look, I'm sorry for yelling, I just got caught up in the moment."

She bit her lip and sniffled, "its okay."

She sighed, "Gordie what am I gonna do?"

"I don't know. But what I do know is that you're only here for another week or so and you shouldn't be spending it hiding in your room. You need to get out there and forget like it ever happened." he said shrugging his shoulders.

"You're right and I am just about sick of crying and eating cookies." She said kicking an empty bag on the ground.

Gordie laughed, "So does that mean you're gonna stop living like a mole and actually come outside for once?"

Lily smiled, "yeah, just let me hop in the shower and get changed."

"Okay I'll be waiting for you downstairs." said Gordie.

Lily hopped off of her bed and picked out her clothes for the day. She then headed for the bathroom and turned on the shower.

Although as happy as she was to see Gordie, she was still worried about that fact that Ace might tell Chris what had happened between the two of them.

_No doubt he's told most of the Cobras, if not all, already. What if he tells Chris today? Or what if he's telling him right now? I have to keep him quiet._ She thought as she stepped out of the shower.

She had to think of something and fast.

**Oh my gosh! Sorry it took like a month to write this! I've just been super busy what with a bunch of English essays and History projects, it's nuts! Oh and on top of that my school just finished a production of Footloose that I was in and I haven't been home all week. Anyway, now that most of the stress is over I can get back to writing, so expect more chapters up soon! ******


	16. Do you Promise?

As Lily stepped out into the sunlight she instantly felt better. She breathed in the cool air and let the golden rays of the sun soak into her every pore.

She and Gordie reached the edge of the driveway and headed down the black, sticky pavement towards town.

"It's so nice to be outside for once!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, but it's too hot. We haven't gotten any rain the whole summer, which is really weird for our town." He said while wiping some sweat off of his forehead.

"That is weird but I'm glad because no sun, no fun." She said wrapping her arm around his neck.

He shrugged, "there's lots of stuff that you can do in the rain."

She laughed, "like what?"

"Like dancing…"

She smiled nervously, "I can't dance."

He stopped abruptly and looked offended, "you can't dance?"

She hesitated, "no."

His shock then turned into a smirk and he held out his right hand towards her.

"I can always teach you."

"Here? Now?" She said confused. "Gordie we can't dance right here, in the middle of the street."

"Come on it's not like there's anyone here! Besides, I'm a very good teacher."

She smiled and shook her head, "why do I let you talk me into this?"

She then took his hand and he pulled her into him, his boney chest against hers. She felt his long and skinny arm wrap around her waist. She looked into his brown, doe eyes and oval, pale face. His chapped lips cracked as they turned upright into a smile.

"Okay so this is the waltz." He said as he began twirling her around.

She looked down and copied his foot movement. She could hear him murmur counting's of four and looked up to see his concentrate face look into the distance ahead.

He then lifted her off of her feet and twirled her around, her brown curls flying above her head, the trees in the background becoming nothing but blurs. She began to laugh uncontrollably as he dipped her as far as she could go with her head almost touching the concrete.

That's when she saw him.

The two of them stopped laughing and Gordie slowly brought Lily back up to normal stance.

They had arrived in town and that's when Lily noticed Ace and the Cobra's all standing around his car laughing while having a smoke.

"Come on, said Gordie grabbing her arm, we can go if you want."

"No. I have to talk to him." She said still starring at him.

"Do you want me to come with you?" he asked.

"No. I have to do this myself."

"What are you gonna say to him?"

She shook her head, "I have no idea…"

She gulped and began forward with every step she took feeling like a cement block was attached to her ankles.

Finally she had reached him. His back facing her while the rest of the Cobras' eyes were fixed only on him.

She breathed in slowly and reached out her shaking arm towards him. She tapped him slightly on the back.

He quickly turned around, an evil expression over took his face as he saw her.

With her eyes wide open, she cleared her throat to speak.

"Ace. I need to talk to you." She said as quietly as she could.

Ace smirked and turned back to the Cobras.

"Speak of the devil boys!"

He turned back to Lily, "looks like someone wants to go for round two."

A surge of confidence swept over Lily. She wasn't let Ace make her live in fear of his

for the rest of her life. She was tired of being the damsel in distress with him. She was

going to take control from now on. She took a hold of his shirt collar, and pulled his face

up to hers.

"Listen asshole, I don't have time to play games. I need to talk to you in private now!"

She looked at the others who were all snickering behind Ace.

"Unless you're to busy taking it up the ass from your little girlfriends over here."

All of the cobras became silent, including Ace.

He waved his hands up in defence, "alright Davis, you win."

She let go of his shirt and turned around leading him to a nearby alley.

Lily stopped in the middle of the alleyway and turned around to face Ace. However, Ace had something different in mind. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her in, trying to go in for a kiss.

She pushed him away.

"Get off of me."

"Ooh, I like 'em feisty!" He said.

She rolled her eyes and spoke up.

"Look I know you already told your little friends but I need you not to tell anyone else about what happened between you and me."

He smile and walked closer towards her, "What did happen between us? Refresh my memory."

He began to, again, grab her waist and pull her in.

She took his hands off of her waist, "you're disgusting."

He smiled, "hey! I tried."

She rolled her eyes, "Just promise me, please?"

He looked at her curiously and turned his lips into a half smile.

"This is about you and Chris isn't it?" He said taking out a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it in his mouth.

She sighed, "if you must know then yes…"

He laughed and blew a puff of smoke in her face.

"Alright. I'll promise you…"

Her heart jumped, "you will?"

"Yeah I will…if you do something for me."

Her heart dropped into her stomach. Only Ace would ask for something in return, especially if it was from her.

"What do you want?"

He thought for a moment and flicked his cigarette on the ground. He then moved closer to Lily and whispered in her ear.

"Have sex with me."

Lily pushed him against the brick wall.

"Ew, no!"

He looked at her hurt, "why not?"

"Because having sex with you is what got me here in the first place! Besides, you're disgusting and the only reason I did have sex with you is because I was drunk out of my mind."

Ace grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into his chest, "come on, you must feel some kind of feelings towards me."

She groaned and pulled his hands off of her, pushing him away.

"Yeah, nausea."

He glared at her, anger burning in his eyes.

"Fine. If you can't give me what I want, then I'm promising you shit."

"That's not fair." She said with sad eyes.

"Life isn't fair." He said.

He took a hold of her chin and brought it up to his face.

"If I can't have you, Chambers definitely won't."

Lily jerked her head away from his grasp and looked down at the ground.

"Hey Ace, hurry up!" called one of the Cobras from the distance.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and pick up some girls at Irby's."

With that, he turned around, got into his car and drove off.

Lily sighed, running her fingers through her hair.

Just then Gordie came up and grabbed her hand, making her jump a little.

"Hey, don't worry," he said, "it's gonna be okay."

She looked at him, "what am I going to do Gordie? What if he tells Chris?"

Gordie shook his head, "if he's smart enough, he won't tell Chris."

She frowned, "you're not giving me much hope Gordie…"

He laughed, "Just stop worrying about it. If Chris does find out, he'll forgive you. It'll take some time, but he will. He always does."

They both stood in the alley way for a moment in silence.

Gordie spoke up, "do you wanna go back?"

"No. I want to stay here and go to the treehouse. I feel like I haven't seen Vern or Teddy in ages…"

He nodded and the two then proceeded out of the alley way and down the road to the large oak tree where the tree house stood, all the while Lily was hoping that Gordie was right.

**Wondering where Chris is? Yeah me too. Don't worry he'll be in the next chapter, which I'll be working on very soon. Although you may not get it till June. What with like 10000 essays and projects that I have to work on and to top it all off…driving school! So yeah have fun reading and I'm hoping to finish this by the end of June! I'm so happy that school is almost over:D **

**Oh and By the way, the whole dancing thing with Lily and Gordie is just to show how good of friends they're becoming. So its not as random as you may think! **


	17. The Truth Comes Out

"Ugh! Damn suitcase, why do you have to be so old?" whined Lily as she tried to patch up yet another fallen piece off of her dirty, tattered brown suitcase.

It was now Sunday evening, 4 days before she was to leave, and Lily was beginning to prepare for her long journey home.

Her last couple of weeks in Castle Rock were nothing special. She hung around with Gordie, Teddy and Vern, trying to avoid Chris at all costs. Ace hadn't really bothered her nor did any of the Cobras. Lily was content, for now.

_**Tap, tap, tap. **_

She looked up, "what the hell was that?"

_**Tap, tap, tap.**_

__She looked around and found that the tapping noises were coming from the window by her bed. She went over and opened it.

She peered her head out into the night sky and looked down to see three dark shadows standing outside of the house.

"Who's there?" she asked.

"Lily?" shouted one of the figures.

The voice sounded oddly familiar, it was Gordie.

"Gordie? Is that you?" she asked adjusting her eyes to the darkness.

"Yeah! I'm also here with Teddy and Vern." he shouted.

"What the fuck are you doing here? It's late and I was just beginning to pack!"

"That can wait." said Teddy. "We have something really important to tell you!"

"Can't it wait till tomorrow? And could you keep it down? My grandma's trying to sleep!" she whispered loudly.

"It's about Chris!" said Vern.

"What? Did he find a new girlfriend or something?" she asked sarcastically.

"No, worse. He found out about you and Ace!" said Gordie.

Lily's eyes widened with horror and her grip on the windowsill tightened.

After a few moments of frozenness, Lily spoke.

"I'll be right down!"

Quickly, Lily grabbed the first sweater she could find. She put it on and slowly crept out of the bedroom, tiptoed down the stairs and out of the house.

When she got outside she ran towards the boys, "How did he find out?" she asked furiously.

Gordie shrugged, "Ace told him."

Lily sighed, "was he mad?"

"He was pissed."

"How pissed?" She asked flinching.

"Well, let's just say he came over to my house, started breaking half of my stuff and threatened to kill Ace with his father's gun…" he trailed off.

"What?" said Lily in shock.

"Yeah, and then he ran away." added Teddy.

"Oh my gosh!" she whispered to herself.

She looked up at Gordie with fear in her eyes, "you don't think he'll do it, will he?"

Gordie shook his head in uncertainty, "I don't know…"

Lily rubbed the temples of her forehead and began to pace, "when did this happen?"

"Like half an hour ago."

"Did he mention where he was going when he left?"

"No. But if I had to guess I would say he's where Ace is."

"We have to go and find him. Before something bad happens…"

"How are we going to do that?" asked Vern.

"Yeah Lil, they could be anywhere by now." said Teddy.

She thought for a moment aloud, "it's Sunday night. Does anyone know where Ace hangs out during this time?"

"Well usually every night Ace hangs with the Cobras at Irby's Billiards." said Gordie. "But, Irby's is closed on Sunday nights…"

Teddy interrupted Gordie, "You know, I've seen him hang out at The Blue Point Diner one Sunday night. Not too long ago either."

"The Blue Point Diner it is!" cried Lily as she and the boys ran towards town.

After ten minutes of non stop running, the four finally arrived at the Diner and looked for any signs of The Cobras and Chris.

"I…don't….see….them." panted Gordie as he bent forward trying to catch his breath.

"Me either…" breathed Lily as she wiped the sweat off of her forehead.

"Hey! You guys, look at that sign!" said Teddy pointing to the door of the diner.

_Sorry we're closed due to renovations. Please come back later_

"If the diner's closed, then where are they?" asked Vern.

Just then a loud bang was heard by the four in the distance.

Lily looked at Gordie, her heart sank beneath her chest.

"What was that?" she asked.

"It sounded like a gun." said Gordie.

"I think it came from behind the diner." said Teddy.

"Chris…" whispered Lily.

The four ran towards the back of the Blue Point and had stopped just before the clearing.

Lily was about to move into view but Gordie grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back.

"What are you doing?" she whispered angrily.

"You can't go yet." he whispered back.

"Why not?"

"Cause right now, I think you're the last person Chris wants to see."

Lily was silent because she knew that Gordie was right.

He went on, "Teddy, Vern and I will go out first and try to get Chris to put down

the gun. If that doesn't work, then we'll call you out."

Lily nodded and saw the three boys slowly turn the corner and into the view of

Chris and Ace.

Lily leaned forward, listening in on the boy's conversation.

"Chris, put down the gun." said Gordie.

"Gordie? What are you doing here man? I told you not to come." said Chris

nervously.

"Did you actually think I would've listened?"

He paused for a moment.

"I mean, I wasn't gonna let you go and do something stupid like murder Ace."

Teddy spoke up, "come on man, just put down the gun."

"How about we sort out this whole mess over milkshakes?" added Vern.

"Yeah Chambers, why don't you just put the gun down, grab a milkshake and we

can all go back to our regular lives." said Ace.

"Fuck you Ace. I'm gonna finish you off the way Gordie should have done three

years ago."

"You don't have the guts…" sneered Ace.

"Try me."

Lily took a deep breath in and clenched her fists together. She couldn't just stand

there and let someone get hurt, even if one of them did deserve it.

Slowly, Lily emerged into the view of the others and looked up.

As she made her way towards Chris, she couldn't help but stare at the stranger

that stood before her.

His skin had lost its glowing tan and looked as if it was almost transparent. His

cheekbones were hollow and his lips were white and dry. He had large black circles under his glossy blue eyes and his neck and arms were covered in bruises. Lily had noticed his tight grip on the gun that was pointed at Ace, his bone almost protruding out of the skin. He looked dead, almost ghost like. What had happened to the boy that was once so full of life and love that Lily had known?

She turned to Ace and went towards him, "Ace, why do you always have to start shit like this?"

He grinned, "Because it's fun."

He then paused and turned serious, "besides, do you honestly think I'm

gonna let this little faggot and his friends scare me off again? No."

The other Cobras laughed as Lily rolled her eyes.

"You know, you're pathetic and I don't know what anyone sees in you."

Ace glared, "why don't you shut the fuck up and tell you're little boyfriend to

give me the gun."

He then pointed his knife at her, "or else I'll be required to get physical."

Lily gulped and turned to Chris whose eyes were still fixated on Ace.

"Chris, why don't you just put down the gun? I couldn't bear to see you get hurt."

Chris turned his head towards her, his eyes burning a hole in her face.

"Well that's too late now isn't it?"

Lily closed her eyes and looked at the ground, "I'm sorry…"

Ace laughed, "what was that darling? I don't think he could hear you."

Lily looked up with tears in her eyes and said, "I'm sorry that I hurt you Chris. I

didn't mean to. I was drunk and upset and Ace was just there."

"So? Lily, you don't think that I was upset after I broke up with you?" He

screamed.

"You didn't seem upset."

"Well I was but, I didn't go around and sleep with some random girl that _you _

hated."

"I know. But, you have to know that I didn't want you to find out like this!"

Chris shook his head confused, "how did you want me to find out? Through a

letter while you were halfway across the country? Like, _"Hey I just wanted to write you to say that I missed you and oh, by the way, I slept with Ace!" _God Lil, you really don't think do you?"

"That's not fair. You have no right to say that!"

"Why not? It's the truth isn't it?"

Lily stood there, silent, for what seemed like hours. She had nothing to say

because, in some way, she knew he was right.

"I've just about had enough of this!"

Before she could react, Lily felt a tug at her hair that sent a sharp shooting pain to

the back of her head which jolted her backwards into Ace. He covered her mouth with his one hand and wrapped his other arm tightly around the side of her body. With the other hand, he placed his knife deeply into the side of her neck, making it almost impossible for her to escape his grip.

Her heart was racing and tears began to flow from her eyes. She looked over to

see Chris with an expression of dread on his face.

She looked to find Gordie, Vern and Teddy all being held down by the other

Cobra members.

Ace growled , "Give me the gun Chambers or I will cut her neck."

Lily whimpered in fear.

"No way!" he said while standing his ground.

Ace dug the knife deeper into her neck, making a small gash. Her blood began to trickle on the ground.

"Do it Chambers! Now!"

Chris raised one hand in defence, "Okay! You win! Just don't hurt her."

Hesitantly Chris slowly released his grip on the gun, put it on the ground

and slid it towards Ace.

Smiling, Ace took the knife off of Lily's neck and loosened his grip on her body.

As soon as she was loose enough, Lily quickly flung her head in a backwards motion and hit Ace's nose as hard as she could. In pain, he let go of her and covered his face with his hands. She then turned her body and kicked him in the nuts sending him to the ground writhing in agony.

She ran forward with her hands outstretched in an attempt to grab the gun. However, she was quickly pushed to the ground by an angry Ace, hitting her head on a rock in the process.

Light headed, Lily rubbed the top of her bruising forehead and turned on her back to see Ace standing over her with the gun pointing straight at her.

"You know, I actually liked you Lily. But, now, now you've crossed the line." he snarled as he wiped the blood off of his face.

"Goodbye…" he whispered.

However, before he could pull the trigger, Ace was knocked straight off of his feet by Chris.

Lily saw Chris trying to hold him down while she saw Ace grab the gun from the ground beside him.

He pointed the gun at Chris.

Lily screamed, "Chris! Look out!"

Chris heard Lily's scream and tried to move out of Ace's line of fire but it was too late.

Ace squeezed the trigger.

**BOOM! **

The sound of the gun silenced everyone.

From there everything seemed to move in slow motion.

Lily looked over and saw Chris' body limp over and fall beside Ace.

Emotionless, Ace tossed the gun and got up. The Cobras ran to his side.

"Dude, what did you do to my brother?" asked a shocked Eyeball.

"I gave him what he deserved." he replied with a smirk.

"Now come on, before the cops get here and are asses get busted!" he said.

As he turned to leave he looked back at the four who were still in shock from what had just happened.

He threatened them, "If any of you tell someone what I just did, then I'll kill each and every one of you."

Lily held her breath as he turned and left while the rest of the Cobras followed.

As soon as they were out of site, she and the three other boys ran to tend to Chris.

"Chris? Chris? Can you hear me? Are you okay?" she asked teary eyed.

She turned him over on his back and saw his right shoulder covered in blood.

"Oh my god!" she screamed while covering her mouth with her hands.

"Holy shit!" both Vern and Teddy whispered as they saw the bullet wound.

"Okay, don't panic!" said Gordie, his voice shaking.

"We just have to get him to the doctors before he looses even more blood."

He slapped Chris' face in order for the bleeding boy to regain consciousness.

"Chris? Chris? Wake up man!"

Chris began to move his head, his eyelids fluttering to open, he moaned.

"Gor…do?" he asked.

All three of them sighed in relief.

"Yeah, it's me."

"What….happened?"

"You got…shot." Gordie explained slowly.

"My arm hurts!" he groaned in agony.

"I know." He nodded. "We have to get you to a hospital. Can you get up?"

Lily watched as Chris struggled to sit up. When he finally did, Gordie grabbed him by the waist and helped him on his feet.

With Chris on his side, Gordie hobbled out onto the main road and towards the hospital while Lily and the other two followed closely behind.

She then noticed Gordie whispering something into Vern's ear. Vern then turned around and grabbed Lily by the arm pulling her backwards.

"Vern! What the hell are you doing!" she asked.

"I'm taking you home on Gordie's orders."

"What? No! Gordie, I wanna go with you guys."

Gordie stopped and looked at her, "Lil, it's been a long day. You should go home and rest."

She shook her head, "I don't need sleep. Besides, I want to know if Chris is going to be alright."

" Lil, your grandma's gonna freak if you're out all night. Go home."

"I don't care about my grandma!" Lily shouted.

"GO HOME!" Gordie and Teddy shouted back.

Lily sighed; she obviously wasn't going to win this fight. She looked at Vern, who had his arm out ready for her to take.

"Fine I'll go." she said taking a hold of his arm.

"But, you'll call me as soon as you find out everything, right?"

"I promise." he said shrugging Chris body so he would stay awake.

Lily nodded, and turned to head back to her grandmother's with Vern.

"Don't worry Lil, everything is going to be just fine. If I know Gordie, he'll do anything in his power to make sure of that!" reassured Vern.

Although as comforting as Vern was trying to be, Lily couldn't help but feel that somehow, everything wouldn't be alright this time.

**Holy crap! I am a thousand times sorry for keeping you guys waiting like 3 months for a new chapter! I know I promised you guys that I would be finished by the end of June but things took a turn for the worst when I got major writers block and my summer plans got in the way of writing...**

**But on the plus side, there are only a couple of chapters left and those should be posted by the end of this month. So please hang in there! **

**Anyway, I hope you all had a fantastic summer and I hope you all have an amazing 2009/2010 year!**


	18. I Can Never Forgive You

That night Lily struggled to get to sleep. Her mind was racing with different thoughts about different things. Her main thought, however, was the condition of Chris.

_What if the bullet hit one of his vital organs? What if he had slipped into a coma while in surgery? Worse, what if he was dead? I mean, how am I going to live with killing the person that I truly love?_

Sleep was definitely the last thing on her mind.

**---**

The next morning, Lily awoke to her grandmother calling her name.

"Lily! Lily? Phone's for you!"

Lily rolled over in bed and rubbed her eyes.

It took her a few moments before her eyes popped open and she realized who was on the phone.

"Gordie!" she said.

Lily threw the covers off of her and sprinted downstairs into the kitchen. She grabbed the phone from her grandmother and pressed her ear to the receiver.

"Gordie?" she asked while her heart beat out of her chest.

"Lily?"

She sighed, "oh thank god you called! How's Chris? Is he okay? Is he hurt? Where are you? What's happening? Why aren't you answering m-"

"Lily! Calm down." Gordie interrupted.

She became silent.

Gordie spoke up again, "Chris is fine. The doctor said that he had a minor flesh wound and that he should be up and out of the hospital in three days."

Lily nodded, "well can he have visitors?"

"Not until tomorrow. He's pretty out of it right now, from the anaesthetics."

"Oh, okay."

"Listen, I just got home from the hospital and I'm really tired. So, I'm gonna go to bed and I'll talk to you tomorrow. Bye."

"Yeah, bye." she said and hung up the phone.

Relieved that Chris was okay, Lily sat in her room the rest of the day trying to think of what she would say when she saw him in the morning.

**---**

As Lily stepped through the large glass doors and into the white, open waiting room of the hospital, she couldn't help but feel a little overwhelmed.

She walked up to the receptionist's desk and waited until a fairly large woman dressed in all in white came to her assistance.

"Hello sweetie. How may I help you?" asked the woman.

"Hi, I was just here to visit a friend." said Lily.

The receptionist opened a filling cabinet and began rifling through papers.

"Name?" she asked.

"Um…Chris Chambers." She hesitated.

She smiled and pulled out a file that read **CHAMBERS** on the front.

She opened it.

"Ah yes, Christopher Chambers! He's the boy who came in last night because of a minor flesh wound in his right shoulder."

Guilt filled Lily's heart, "Yeah, that's the one." She said quietly.

"He's in room 112."

She pointed down the hallway, "just down the hallway and to the right."

Lily nodded "thank you."

The receptionist smiled and returned to her work.

Lily turned and started down the long, white hallway.

She looked straight ahead, trying her best to avoid looking into any of the other rooms.

Hospitals had always given Lily the creeps and she began to shiver as she approached Chris' room and thought of what he might look like lying in a hospital bed with a bunch of machines hooked up to him.

She stopped dead in her tracks.

There, starring her right in the face was room 112.

Lily panicked.

_What if I walk in, he sees me and starts yelling at me? What if he tells me he hates me and never wants to see me again? _She thought to herself.

Lily sighed, "there's no turning back now…"

Slowly, she crept towards the door. It was halfway opened.

Lily peered inside and saw Chris feet dangling from the small, blue bed.

She took a deep breath in and pushed the door open.

Room 112 was like any other hospital room that Lily had seen before. The wall color was an off white and the floor was a dirty grey. There was a bathroom in the middle of the room and a small, table and window near Chris' bed. Everything in the room was so clean, shiny and boring. In fact, the only thing that really made the room stand out was Chris himself.

He had his head turned to the window and hadn't noticed Lily standing there.

However, as she began to walk forward, he turned towards her.

He was looking much healthier than he had two days ago. His tan was somehow back on his body, his teeth were pearly white and his eyes were sparkling blue like the ocean. His cheeks were no longer hollow and the bags under his eyes were reduced to a smaller size. Although his arm was in a sling, he looked content, happier.

Lily smiled slightly and waved her hand in the air, "hi."

Chris did the same.

Relived he didn't kick her out Lily walked towards him and sat down at the end of his bed, the breeze from the outside made her shiver.

"How are you feeling?" she asked slowly.

He lifted up his sling slightly and joked, "I've had better days. The doctor says I have to keep my arm in this sling for about a month."

"Listen, I came by just to say thank you for saving me…"

"It's no problem…" he said.

The two were silent for what seemed like a long, awkward time until Lily couldn't take it anymore.

She lowered her head, "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay…" he whispered.

She looked at him, tears streaming down her face.

"No. It's not okay. I almost got you killed."

Chris was silent and looked away.

"Can you forgive me for everything?" she asked hopefully.

He hesitated for a moment, "I can't…"

Lily rolled her eyes, "God Chris why do you have to be so stubborn?"

"I think, considering me condition, I have a right to be stubborn!" he shouted.

Lily got up and started pacing, "What can I do to make you forgive me?"

"Nothing…" he shrugged.

Lily sat back down on the bed and moved closer, grabbing his face and pulling it towards hers.

"I love you so much, it consumes me."

Chris was silent.

Lily looked deep into his eyes, "tell me you love me."

He hesitated, "I…I…think you should leave now."

Lily's heart sank into her stomach. She wiped the tears from her cheeks, "fine."

She then got up and headed towards the door.

Just as she was about to leave she turned to him, he was back to looking out the window.

"I really wish you could forgive me because I feel that this whole thing isn't just about Ace anymore…"

He wouldn't look at her.

She sighed, "goodbye Chris."

With that, she walked out of the hospital and headed back to her grandmother's house.

**---**

After she ate a silent dinner with her grandmother, Lily went out onto the porch to watch her last summer sunset in Castle Rock.

However, she couldn't feel relaxed because of the conversation that she had with Chris early that day kept replaying over and over in her head.

Without even knowing it, Lily's grandmother sat down beside her.

"You were quiet at dinner tonight."

Lily jumped, "Jesus grandma! You scared me!"

"I'm sorry sweetie. Are you okay? You're acting strange."

She sighed, "no I'm not okay. I blew it with Chris."

Her grandmother patted her thigh, "oh I'm sure you didn't "blow" it."

"No, I did. I hurt him and now he won't forgive me…"

"What did you do?" she asked.

"I can't say…" Lily trailed off.

"Ah, I see." She nodded.

She then reached into her pocket and pulled out a taped up picture, handing it to Lily.

"Speaking of Chris, look what I found."

Lily turned over the picture; it was the picture of her and Chris

"Where'd you find this?" she asked surprised.

"I found it while taking out you're garbage yesterday. Why'd you throw it away?"

Lily sighed, "I was upset and hurt and sad…"

Tears began to well in her eyes.

Her grandmother hugged her, "honey, I know your upset but I'm so sure that this whole thing will pass over and Chris will forgive you."

Lily looked at her, "thanks for trying but somehow I don't think that's gonna happen."

She put the picture in her pocket and got up.

"I'm pretty tired grandma; I think I'll go to bed. You know, big day tomorrow."

"Okay, goodnight Lily."

As Lily began to head inside, her grandmother stopped her.

"Lily?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah grandma?"

"I'm really grateful that you came to visit me. You know, after your grandfather died I was really lonely. Then you came along and brightened my life again."

Lily smiled, "no problem. I love you grandma."

"I Love you too…"

Lily then went upstairs, slumped on the bed and slowly fell asleep.

**---**

_It was midnight as_ _Lily walked past the tree house and up the trail to the spot where Chris had taken her on their first date. _

_As she emerged through the bushes, she looked down to find herself dressed in a long, silk, white gown. _

_She looked ahead of her and saw a boy, around her age, standing, ready to jump off of the cliff overlooking the town of Castle Rock._

_"No! Stop! Don't jump!" she screamed._

_The boy turned around, it was Chris._

_He was dressed in a black suit with a bow tie and his arm was no longer in a sling._

_He shook his head, "it's too late. You broke my heart…"_

"_What?" she asked shocked._

_All of a sudden gunshots went off and Lily's dress was splattered with blood. _

_It wasn't hers._

_She looked up with her hands covered in blood and saw Chris fall to the ground, his lifeless face starring at hers._

"_CHRIS!!" she screamed._

_Just then she heard footsteps behind her. Her eyes widened and she spun sharply around._

_It was Ace._

_He too, was dressed in a black suit with a bow tie. He had a large handgun in his hand which he blew the smoke away from and put in his pocket._

_He smiled, "now we can be together forever…"_

_Lily shook her head and backed away from him._

_She stumbled backwards as he moved closer towards her._

_She eventually stopped at the edge of the cliff, almost losing her balance and falling off. _

_She looked down and instead of seeing Castle Rock she saw the ocean with sharp rocks waiting for her at the bottom._

_Ace then held out his hand for her to take, "forever…" he whispered._

_Lily raised her hands in defence and closed her eyes._

"_NOOO!" she screamed._

_Just then she heard an engine in the distance._

_She opened her eyes to see not Ace, but, his shiny black car revving in front of her._

_Lily screamed._

_The headlights blinded her and the horn made her deaf as the car was just inches from hitting her body._

_**Okay! So this was a fun chapter to write and I'm actually almost done writing the final chapter!! Yay! Stay tuned!**_


	19. It's Time To Say Goodbye

**BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!**

Lily's eyes shot open and she jolted up in her bed.

Her heart was beating a mile and minute, her breathing was short and her whole body was shaking with sweat.

_It was only a dream, _she thought to herself_; get a hold of yourself Lil._

However the beeping continued.

**BEEEEP!**

Confused, Lily looked at her clock which read only seven am, groaned and flung her covers off of her. Her bare feet touched the cool hard wood floor and she made her way to the dirty window.

_Who the hell honks there horn at seven in the morning?_ She thought to herself as she opened the window to reveal an overcast sky and a beat up station wagon sitting in the driveway with dust encircled around it.

Lily's face beamed in delight as she squealed.

"Mom!"

She ran out of her room and down the stairs, in her pyjamas, lunging towards her mother at full speed and entrapping her in a huge bear hug.

"Lily! It's so good to see you!" said her mother as she embraced her daughter tightly.

Lily let go of her mom and took a step back examining her.

"Mom…you look so different."

Mrs. Davis' looks had changed quite drastically since the beginning of summer. Her hair colour was now a solid chestnut brown, her skin was smooth and tan and her wardrobe had looked like it had come out of a magazine.

"Do you like it?" she asked as she twirled around, showing off her new look.

Lily looked in amazement, "I love it. I can see Europe has changed you drastically."

Her mother waved her off, "oh I wouldn't say drastically, but, it has changed me."

She inhaled deeply, "I feel like a whole new woman!"

Lily laughed and turned to see her grandmother standing in the kitchen holding two large chickens.

"Lily! You're up! Great! I was just making breakfast and wondering if your mother would like some…"

"No thanks mom. We don't have time for breakfast, we have a long drive ahead of us." said Mrs. Davis.

Lily paused, "wait. We're leaving right now? But, there were some friends I wanted to say goodbye to-"

Her mom interrupted her, "I'm sure you can talk to them some other time."

Lily sighed, "yeah, I guess."

Her mom smiled, "good! Now scoot upstairs, get changed and get your stuff!"

Lily nodded and trudged upstairs. She took her time getting changed, soaking in the memories of the room, the summer.

She had changed into the jean shorts she had worn the day before and slipped on a white tank top with a light pink cardigan overtop.

She then picked up her suitcase and shuffled out of the room and down the stairs to where her grandma and mom were standing.

She gave her mom the suitcase and hugged her grandma.

"Thank you so much. I'll try and visit as much as I can." whispered Lily in her ear.

"No problem dear and I would like that very much."

After a few minutes, she stopped hugging her grandmother and went outside where she saw three boys walking down the driveway and towards the house.

"Oh my gosh!" Lily screamed.

She ran to the boys hugged each and every one of them in excitement.

"Beautiful weather we're having today!" joked Gordie.

She rolled her eyes, "yeah, who would have thought that the day I leave is the one day it rains…"

"Aw, that just means Castle Rock is sad to see you leaving." smiled Teddy.

Lily beamed, "I just can't believe you guys came! How did you know I'd be leaving so early?"

Gordie shrugged, "you're grandma just phoned us a couple of minutes ago."

"And we couldn't let you leave without saying goodbye. So we raced over here." said Teddy.

"Sincerely!" added Vern.

Lily laughed as tears began to well up in her eyes.

"What's wrong Lil?" asked Gordie.

Lily sighed, "I'm just gonna miss this. Seeing you guys and having fun. You guys were the highlight of my summer and I don't know what I would've done without you."

All three smiled as they embraced Lily once more. However, she couldn't help enjoy the hug because she felt as though something, rather someone, was missing.

Gordie patted her back.

"Lily? Come on sweetheart we have to get going. Besides, I don't want to ruin my new hair in the rain." called her mom.

"That's your mom?" asked Teddy. "Tell her I say hi."

"Don't even think about it Teddy. She's a married gal." she said hitting the back of his head.

"Believe me, that won't be a problem." he said laughing like a hyena.

Lily smiled, "Well, I better get going."

She hugged them once more and then went to the car.

"I promise I will visit as much as I can!" She hollered while opening the car door.

She got inside the passengers seat and fastened her seatbelt as she felt the car jolt forward and down the driveway.

She looked in the rear-view mirror at the three boys and her grandmother as they all waved goodbye in the distance.

**---**

As they began to enter Castle Rock, her mother rambled on about Europe.

"So I got you a whole new wardrobe! A lot better than the cheap stuff you wear right now. I also got you a new radio for your room…."

Lily nodded barely listening to a word she was saying. All she could think of was Chris.

She put her hands in her lap but felt something crinkled in her right pocket. Wondering what it was, she took it out and unfolded it. She smiled.

It was the picture of her and Chris when they were five. Somehow, as sad as she was, she couldn't help but laugh at the sight of the two dirty, missing toothed children as they clung to each other in joy.

She stared blankly at the picture as her mother talked about something else pointless.

Just then a single drop of rain splattered on Chris' face in the picture.

Lily looked up and saw that rain had begun to drizzle down from the grey clouds above.

Her mother began to play with her hair while looking in the side mirror, "Lily? Would you please roll up your window? It's beginning to rain…"

Lily nodded and put the picture back in her pocket.

She bent down and began to roll up her window when a dark figure, following the car, caught her attention in the side mirror.

She squinted but then her eyes began to widen as the figure came into better view.

It was Chris.

Her heart began to race as she turned to her mother, who was still fixing her hair.

"Mom, stop the car!" she screamed.

Her mother looked at her surprised, "what? Lily, I am not stopping this car!"

"Please? I really need to do something!" she said urgently.

"No! I am not stopping this car!" yelled her mother.

Lily grabbed the steering wheel and planted her foot on the brake petal.

They both lurched forward and Lily fumbled with her seat belt as she tried to take it off.

"Lily! What the_ hell_ do you think you're doing?" demanded her mother.

"Mom, I'm sorry I'll be right back. I have to take care of something!"

"It's pouring out, you'll catch a cold!" stammered her mother.

"It's ok! I'll be fine…"

Lily kissed her mom on the cheek and bolted open the door rushing towards the soaking wet Chris Chambers.

She stopped a few feet in front of him, "what are you doing here?" she shouted through the rain.

"I came to apologize…" he shouted back, his arm still held in by the sling.

She frowned, "it's a little late for that don't chya think?"

"Will you just hear me out?" he asked sincerely.

She folded her arms, "okay."

He began to ramble, "you were right and I am so sorry with everything that happened. I never meant to hurt you on my birthday. I didn't want to break up with you but, I was scared. I was scared of admitting that I was falling for you because I didn't want my heart to break when you left."

She shook her head confused, "so instead of yourself getting a broken heart, you broke mine instead…"

"I know I was selfish and I truly am sorry for that. I just couldn't let you leave without telling you all of this."

Tears began to form in her eyes, "But, what about Ace? I thought you hated me for that?"

"Screw Ace! I stayed up all night last night and found that holding a grudge over you is childish and stupid and totally not worth losing you over."

Lily began laughing and crying at the same time. She was confused and didn't know what to do.

He came forward, "do you know what else I realized?"

She ran her fingers through her dripping hair, "what?"

"I realized that whatever you do, wherever you go, I will always love you Lily Davis."

Lily's heart stopped and tears began to flow down her cheeks. A hundred different emotions over swept her. And as much as she wanted to hate him for putting her though hell and back, she knew that Chris was right. It didn't matter what had happened throughout theses past two months. She loved him and she always would. No one could ever change her mind.

Chris put his hands on her arms, "you're also looking incredibly sexy standing here in the rain and I'm thinking that I have to kiss you before I go nuts."

She smiled and breathed a sigh a relief, "well, if you have to…"

Chris pulled her forward, with his one arm, and planted his lips firmly on hers. She placed her hands around his neck and he placed his around her waist. Her whole body went into a tingling sensation as his soft lips rubbed against hers. She could taste his sweet breath on her tongue. She had missed him and hadn't felt this good since the first time they had kissed.

They stopped kissing for just a second and looked at each other lovingly.

They both laughed as the rain poured down on them and the thunder and lightning echoed and cracked in the distance.

"I love you." she said trying to contain her joy.

"I love you too…" said Chris pulling her in for another kiss.

**Whoa! I finished it! After a year of writing this story on and off again I've finally finished it! I thought I'd leave it at this ending because I wanted to leave it on a happy note! Anyway, thank you so much for all of your support in reading and commenting on my first fanfic. Please stay tuned I have many ideas in my head and I'm already working on a new Stand By Me fanfic:D **

**I promise it won't take a year to write either:P**


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